Kyrgyz voters casting ballots in parliamentary polls
People in Kyrgyzstan have started voting in parliamentary elections, in which pro-Russia parties are expected to retain their dominance for another five years in the Central Asian country.
According to the election commission, polling stations opened at 08:00 a.m. local time (0200 GMT) on Sunday, as over 2,000 candidates representing 14 parties battle for seats in the 120-member legislature.
Approximately 800 election monitors from 57 countries and 47 organizations are observing Sunday’s polls, in which Kyrgyzstan is using biometric data to prevent voter fraud for the first time.
The Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan (SDPK), led by Chynybai Tursunbekov – a supporter of President Almazbek Atambayev – is likely to do well in the polls, but it can only take a maximum of 65 seats based on the constitution.
Other pro-Russia parities such as Ata-Meken, Bir Bol and Respublika and Ata-Jurt are also tipped for strong showings in the elections of the mainly Muslim nation of six million.
Atambayev recently called on voters “to choose stability,” the SDPK’s buzzword, adding, “Our nation has a great future, provided of course that it is not cheated.”
“It should not be like under [former presidents, Askar] Akayev and [Kurmanbek] Bakiyev when the number of votes and mandates received by candidates were simply made up. [This time] votes will be fairly counted,” he added.
Ethnic tensions, economic woes, corruption and security concerns are reportedly among the major problems facing the new parliament in the former Soviet republic.
Over the past few years, Kyrgyzstan has swung closer to Russia and further away from the West.
Relations between Bishkek and Washington soured back in July after the United States awarded a prestigious human rights prize to an ethnic minority activist jailed in 2010. Atambayev described the award as an “intentional provocation.”
Under a deadline set by the Kyrgyz parliament, the United States also shut down an airbase in the Asian state that had served Washington’s invasion of Afghanistan since 2001.
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