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KYRGYZSTAN-VOTE
Kyrgyzstan set for election as vote-buying fears rise
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, Oct 1, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Kyrgyzstan goes to the polls
to choose a new parliament on Sunday with voters and smaller parties afraid
vote buying will spoil a rare competitive election in former Soviet Central
Asia.
Surrounded by authoritarian states with rubber-stamp legislatures,
elections in mountainous Kyrgyzstan offer a colourful and sometimes
unpredictable contrast.
Yet with the coronavirus pandemic battering paltry incomes, many are
warning that the stage is set for massive ballot fraud by well-resourced
parties.
Rita Karasartova, a candidate for the outsider Reforma party, which has
pledged to push for an overhaul of corrupted state structures if it reaches
parliament, told AFP she “wanted to believe” the election would be a battle
of ideas rather than cash.
“But after the coronavirus, our economic situation is very difficult,” she
said. “Pro-government parties are extremely rich and I think they are buying
up votes in the villages.”
– Rift over Russia –
Of sixteen parties competing, two are almost certain to take seats in the
120-member legislature.
The Birimdik party is viewed as loyal to President Sooronbai Jeenbekov and
includes the president’s brother and former parliamentary speaker Asylbek
Jeenbekov among its candidates.
Its main rival, Mekenim Kyrgyzstan, is associated with the powerful
Matraimov family, whose figurehead Rayimbek Matraimov — a former Customs
Service official — was the target of anti-corruption protests last year.
Both parties have spoken in favour of further integration with the Russia-
led Eurasian Economic Union bloc that has raised the status of hundreds of
thousands of Kyrgyz migrants working in Russia since Kyrgyzstan joined in
2015.
But Birimdik’s party chairman Marat Amankulov sparked indignation after
comments emerged from last year of him saying it was “time to return” to
Moscow’s fold, causing rivals to accuse him of undervaluing Kyrgyz
independence.
In a meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Sochi on Monday,
Jeenbekov warned of “forces” that wanted to “drive a wedge into the (Kyrgyz-
Russian) alliance” — an apparent reference to a pro-sovereignty rally held
in opposition to Amankulov’s comments in the capital Bishkek last Sunday.
One participant at the 300-strong rally, 56-year-old Sabira Sutenirova,
told AFP Birimdik was “buying votes for 2,000 soms ($25)” just outside the
capital where her relatives live.
“They want to sell our country,” Sutenirova claimed.
Amankulov has said his comments about Russia were taken out of context. A
legal representative of Birimdik told AFP by telephone that the party “does
not engage in vote-buying” or put “administrative pressure” on voters.
– Political drama –
Revolutions unseating two authoritarian presidents in the space of five
years were seen as the driving force behind a fresh constitution to curb
authoritarian excess and contain political infighting in 2010.
Electoral laws dictate that no one party can take more than 65 seats in the
120-member legislature.
Presidents are limited to a single six-year term — a departure from the
strongman trend seen in neighbours China, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and
Uzbekistan.
Jeenbekov will be hoping for a cooperative parliament as he plans for life
after his term ends in 2023, knowing that his own predecessor and former
protege Almazbek Atambayev is currently languishing in jail.
Tensions between the pair built following Jeenbekov’s electoral victory in
2017, peaking last year with a shootout at Atambayev’s residence that pitted
the former president’s armed supporters against state security forces that
were trying to arrest him.
Atambayev was detained on charges of illegally releasing a crime boss from
jail, an offence he was sentenced to 11 years imprisonment for in June.
He has also been charged in the murder of a special forces officer who
died during the raid.
But these high-stakes political dramas were far removed from the concerns
of Bishkek residents this week, who were keen to focus instead on corruption,
low salaries and the pandemic that tore through the country during the summer
in pre-election interviews with AFP.
Eldiyar Temir, a 24-year-old student, said he was considering voting for
the nominally opposition Ata-Meken party, but did not see a future for
himself in Kyrgyzstan.
“I see other countries that are innovating, digitising… I will stay here
a while, and then leave for somewhere else,” the student told AFP.
BSS/AFP/RY/10:15 hrs