Kazakh opposition says govt backsliding on reform

By Maria Golovnina

ALMATY, June 24 (Reuters) - Kazakhstan's opposition accused the government on Tuesday of backtracking on pledges to bring more democracy ahead of the ex-Soviet nation's chairmanship of Europe's top democracy watchdog in 2010.

The West endorsed Kazakhstan's bid to chair the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe in late 2007 after the Central Asian nation vowed to implement more political reform.

In a joint appeal, Kazakhstan's two main opposition leaders, Bolat Abilov and Zharmakhan Tuyakbai, accused President Nursultan Nazarbayev and his team of failing to making clear progress on their OSCE commitments.

"It's been seven months already but nothing has moved on," Abilov told reporters. "The authorities did not want to change anything when they made their promises to the OSCE. They just want the chairmanship."

Kazakhstan's promises included boosting press freedom by reforming media legislation, making it easier for new political parties to gain registration, and liberalising election law.

Nazarbayev, in power since 1989, has never been elected in a vote judged free and fair by the OSCE. Last year, the OSCE described a Kazakh parliamentary poll, in which a presidential party won all seats in the lower house, as being below required standards.

Nazarbayev is widely credited in the oil-rich nation for bringing stability after years of post-Soviet chaos and making Kazakhstan a leading regional economy.

The opposition, however, remains fragmented and weak and joint appeals such as Tuesday's are rare. In their statement, Abilov and Tuyakbai urged the government to reform the election and media laws and ease restrictions on public meetings.