By empty (5/21/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)

The Ashgabat mayor\'s office began removing a number of portraits of Saparmurat Niyazov from the facades of public buildings on 21 May and a bronze statue of Niyazov that had stood in front of the Interior Ministry was also taken down. Niyazov has often complained about the number of portraits of him displayed on buildings in Ashgabat and throughout the country, but these complaints usually have been the prelude to the installation of even more portraits and statues. The actions were reportedly on orders from Niyazov.

By empty (5/21/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Five of Kazakhstan\'s 10 registered political parties -- Ak zhol (Bright Way), Auyl (Village), the Communists, Democratic Choice, and the Patriots\' Party -- including centrist and opposition groups, have appealed to the parliament and government to change an article in recently adopted alterations to the election law that calls for introduction of an electronic system of voting. The appeal, which was distributed to the media by Ak zhol\'s press service, argued that the conducting of elections in Kazakhstan is not yet sufficiently transparent for the country to use electronic voting rather than paper ballots. The parties said they fear that electronic voting would be more susceptible to \"all sorts of manipulations.

By empty (5/20/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)

The Information and Press Department of the government of the unrecognized Republic of South Ossetia reports that activists from the Georgian youth movement Kmara!, which spearheaded the protests last fall that culminated in Shevardnadze\'s ouster, have recently begun trying to mobilize the minority Georgian population of South Ossetia. Also on 20 May, participants in a meeting in the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali, to mark the 12th anniversary of the killing by Georgian forces of Ossetian refugees adopted an appeal to Russian President Vladimir Putin and State Duma Chairman Boris Gryzlov to recognize South Ossetia as an independent state and then accept it as a member of the Russian Federation. The meeting participants stressed that only Russia can guarantee South Ossetia\'s security and create conditions for its economy to flourish.