The Competence of the Heads of the CIS Countries and Their Place in the System of Separation of Powers
After the collapse of the USSR, most of its former republics joined the regional international organization - the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The republics gained independence by borrowing ideas and principles from the experience of the constitutional development of the Western states. This primarily concerned the principle of separation of powers and the need to establish the post of the sole head of state (president). In all CIS countries the post of the president was established, but only some of their constitutions did strictly determine its place in the system of separation of powers by consolidating the role of the head of the executive power. The purpose of this article is a detailed comparative analysis of the compe-tence of presidents of all CIS countries with the subsequent establishment of their real place in the system of separation of powers. The author comes to the conclusion that in the CIS countries the powers constituting the competence of presidents are determined by the representation function of the head of state, as well as exclusively by the arbitration-guarantee-coordinating function of the head of state or by the function of the executive body. Also the competence of the presidents of some CIS countries does not fully correspond either to the constitutionally assigned function of the head of state or to the function of the executive body, going beyond their limits.