Representatives of the human rights movement “Bir Duino” [“One World”] analyzed the socio-political situation during the organization and holding of early presidential elections in Kyrgyzstan and a referendum (public vote) on the choice of the form of government. Human rights activists came to the conclusion that the Central Election Commission for Elections and Referendum needs to be reformed.
Representatives of “Bir Duino” believe that the CEC, when considering complaints during the pre-election period, showed bias, also behaved like a statistical body, registering complaints and transferring them to law enforcement agencies.
They outlined the main list of problems, which were identified at the early presidential elections and at the referendum on the choice of the form of government. It was noted that there was no mobile and comprehensive information about the meetings with voters held by candidates; campaign groups, information about the organizers. These measures help to prevent the use of administrative resources and political corruption.
In addition, human rights activists pointed to the change in the addresses of polling stations a few days before the vote and insufficient information to voters and the media about the consideration of each signal about the use of administrative resources.
Also, the authors of the report drew attention to the lack of information on the reports of candidates and their representatives about unequal assistance from state bodies and local authorities in organizing meetings with citizens, public debates, discussions, demonstrations, rallies and marches. In addition, there was a lack of timely response to the dissemination of “black PR” by the majority of candidates and their supporters, including during debates on one of the state channels – Public Broadcasting Corporation.
“The debates, held at PBC, didn’t meet international democratic standards both in terms of their organization and conduct, and in terms of the adherence of journalists to the Ethical Code of journalists of the Kyrgyz Republic. The lack of training and methodological support to journalists from the CEC and the PBC, which conducted the debates, causes confusion,” the report says.
Human rights activists also noted the low level of debate around the candidates’ programs, the characteristics and consequences of citizens’ choice of one form of government or another, or a position against all.
In addition, the report states that the practice of imposing disproportionate fines on accredited private media, which was implemented by the CEC, as well as the understanding by journalists of the CEC’s authority to assess the reliability of the information that they disseminate, damage the honor and dignity of a candidate, influenced the introduction of self-censorship. As a result, there were practically no analytical materials and journalistic investigations in the early presidential elections.
“Despite the requirements of the electoral legislation, the CEC took the bureaucratic position of the statistics body, which received complaints or recorded a possible violation and then passed them to law enforcement agencies,” the authors of the report note.
It is emphasized that in the process of considering complaints against candidates, the CEC’s members showed bias and double standards in the administration of electoral legislation, that further influenced the citizens’ confidence in the presidential elections and the referendum.
The largest number of applications was related to the procedure for submitting biometrics, the inability to choose “electoral address” (Form 2), registration of independent public observers at precinct election commissions, compliance with sanitary safety rules for COVID-19, as well as issues of the functioning of automatic voting systems and locations of PECs in remote regions.
Based on the results of the report, the human rights organization developed recommendations for reforming the CEC. One World believes that changes are necessary to strengthen the independence and impartiality of the CEC, as well as to improve the professional qualifications of election organizers, taking into account international practice in non-post-Soviet countries.
Members of the Central Election Commission must be elected from the parliamentary opposition, as well as the chairman. In addition, the head of the body should be changed after each election campaign.
The experts also made other recommendations:
– it is necessary to conduct an independent technical audit of automatically reading ballot boxes;
– to conduct audit, including financial, on the introduced system of biometric identification, its inclusiveness and publish the results of the audit;
– to complete the reform of public television and radio broadcasting in the country, ensuring its real independence.
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