Kyrgyz Presidential Hopefuls Sit Language Test
Kyrgyz Presidential Hopefuls Sit Language Test
As Kyrgyzstan gears up for a watershed presidential election on October 30, some would-be candidates have found themselves barred at the first hurdle.
Anyone who wants to become president has to appear before the Central Electoral Commission, CEC, and prove he or she is fluent in the state language, Kyrgyz.
Five candidates have failed the test so far. One of them, Mambet Junusabylov told IWPR how he was excluded from proceeding to the next stage on the grounds that he had failed the language test. Speaking in Kyrgyz during the interview, he said CEC staff had wandered in and out of the room while he sat the oral exam, yet they unanimously agreed his knowledge was inadequate.
He believes he has been deliberately shut out of the election race because he is seen as too pro-Moscow. He has lodged a complaint with a Bishkek court, without success.
Kanatbek Abdukadirov, deputy head of the commission looking at applications, insists the language test was fair and the CEC’s decision to exclude candidates who fail was fair.
The audio programme, in Russian and Kyrgyz, went out on national radio stations in Kyrgyzstan, as part of IWPR project work funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
