Kyrgyz Election Update

A list of candidates granted the right to stand in the parliamentary election registration, released by the Central Election Committee on January 20, included the names of President Askar Akaev’s son and daughter and the son of Prime Minister Nikolai Tanaev.

Bermet Akaeva was nominated by university students and local residents of the Lenin district in the capital Bishkek. She is standing as an independent. The Civil Society Against Corruption group has issued a protest, alleging that the nomination was engineered by the authorities. Aidar Akaev, who was recently elected president of the National Olympic Committee, is standing in Kemin, while the prime minister’s son, Alexei Tanaev, is standing in the Kurenkey district, also in Bishkek.

OPPOSITION DEMONSTRATIONS CONTINUE

January 19 saw the largest opposition demonstration of recent days. Some 400-500 people gathered for a rally in a Bishkek park, and then marched to the parliament building. The main focus of the protest concerned the denial of permission to stand in the election to ex-ambassadors such as Roza Otunbaeva of the Atajurt party. Participants also accused the government of wrongly ceding territory to China, selling off gold assets, and allowing corruption and nepotism to spread; and said the Akaev administration had turned government into a family business.

Opposition activists announced that starting on February 2, a nationwide campaign will begin to collect signatures in favour of impeaching President Akaev.

PARLIAMENT SAYS EX-ENVOYS SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO STAND

The vexed issue of whether former diplomats can stand for election even if they do not fulfil the resident requirements demanded of candidates has reached a critical stage. On January 20, the Kyrgyz parliament passed a law amending the election code to allow this, overturning a previous rule that some believe was activated as a weapon to exclude politically engaged ex-diplomats such as Otunbaeva and Medetkan Sherimkulov.

However, it is far from certain that either politician will benefit from the change. Before it becomes law, the bill must be signed by the president, who has 30 days to do so – a deadline that expires after the election date.

FOREIGN ACTORS WARNED OFF AGAIN

CEC chair Sulaiman Imanbaev used a January 14 address to foreign diplomats and international organisations to remind them that foreign funding can only be used for educational, technical and information programmes around the election. Anything deemed to be political involvement will be in breach of a United Nations resolution passed in 2000, he said. As an example of such political engagement, Imanbaev said certain international organisations were planning to host debates between parliamentary candidates.

The same day, the CEC and the Kyrgyz foreign ministry issued a joint statement in much the same vein.

IWPR has been told that a number of universities in Bishkek have held meetings to warn students and staff not to cooperate with international organizations – not even to attend educational events or seminars.

POLITICAL PARTIES

On January 15-16, the opposition party Arnamys (Dignity) held a congress to nominate its candidates for the election. Eight were nominated, and one of them - deputy chairman Emil Aliev - has already applied to the election authorities to stand in Bishkek.

The Democratic Party of Women and Youth of Kyrgyzstan met on January 18, nominating two candidates.

The Kelkel youth organisation, aligned with the opposition, has dissociated itself from a group with the same name which held a press conference on January 18 condeming “imported revolutions” and “dirty get-togethers of former officials turned opposition members”. The real Kelkel, which according to some sources is the youth wing of Atajurt, issued a statement the following day saying that its doppelganger was no more than a “clone” set up by the authorities to undermine its efforts.

ELECTION PREPARATIONS

On January 17, Kyrgyzstan’s ombudsman, Tursunbay Bakir uulu, appealed to Kyrgyz nationals living abroad to cast their vote on election day. Estimates vary, but some say a million Kyrgyz citizens are currently resident abroad.

An election observation mission dispatched by the OSCE and its Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights arrived in Kyrgyzstan on January 16. The mission is headed by ambassador Lubomir Kopaj of Slovakia.