Kyrgyzstan elects parliament with eye on Moscow

Kyrgyzstan went to the polls on Sunday for a hotly-contested parliamentary vote, but the results are unlikely to change the ex-Soviet country's firmly pro-Russian trajectory.

Polling stations across the majority-Muslim Central Asian country of six million saw long queues form in the autumn sunshine.

Fourteen parties and more than 2,000 candidates are contesting 120 seats.

The Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan (SDPK), linked to pro-Moscow President Almazbek Atambayev, is expected to do well in the poll.

But it can only take a maximum of 65 seats in the single-chamber legislature due to a stipulation in the constitution.
Other parties tipped for a strong showing include Ata-Meken, Bir Bol and Respublika-Ata-Jurt, all of which are also openly loyal to Moscow.

The majority-Muslim secular republic is occasionally referred to as an "island of democracy" in authoritarian Central Asia and has enjoyed a free press and civil society since the ouster of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev in a bloody uprising in 2010.

- 'New parties, old faces' -

"I remember previous years, when conducting genuinely honest elections was just a dream," Atambayev said after casting his vote.

"This is a great happiness for the whole country."

In the capital Bishkek, voters backed a range of parties, with many supporting SDPK.
"It is the strongest party," said Yulia Zakharchenko, a 36-year-old nurse.

"I don't expect much to change, though. The parliament will reconvene and it will be five more years of intrigue and corruption," she told AFP.

Others stressed the importance of national unity after the uprising and the subsequent ethnic violence claimed some 500 lives in 2010.

"I am for the Ata-Meken party because this party has a strong leader who does not divide the country into north and south," Abdyrahman Abdyrahman uulu, a pensioner, told AFP.
But some political analysts like Emil Juraev of the American University of Central Asia feared the new parliament will feature "new parties but old faces."

"It would be false to say that a culture of parliamentarianism has arrived in Kyrgyzstan. The type and quality of candidate remains similar to the last election," Juraev told AFP.

- Failure to address problems -

Fragile Kyrgyzstan once hosted US and Russian military bases simultaneously but has pursued a strongly pro-Moscow foreign policy since Bakiyev's ouster.

The lease on Washington's Afghanistan-linked transit centre was not renewed when it expired in 2014, and relations have grown tense after Kyrgyzstan this summer terminated a bilateral cooperation accord dating back to 1993.
On Friday Atambayev accused US President Barack Obama of hypocrisy.

"Recently he made a speech at the United Nations and said: democracy, democracy," he complained.

"But look at Central Asia. Does the US support democratic Kyrgyzstan or does it support other (states) and ply them with weapons?"

Critics accuse the government of turning a blind eye to economic problems and warn of risks of Islamic radicalisation.

The International Crisis Group this week released a gloomy report describing Kyrgyzstan as troubled by economic pain in Russia and instability in Afghanistan.

These risks are "exacerbated by leadership failure to address major economic and political problems, including corruption and excessive Kyrgyz nationalism," the report said.

The pre-election campaign has been spotted with controversy as parties traded accusations of vote buying and other underhanded campaigning tactics.
On Wednesday a court reaffirmed the election commission's move to bar a key nationalist candidate of the Respublika Ata-Jurt party from contesting the polls after a rival candidate accused him of assault.

Kamchibek Tashiyev, who enjoys significant support in the volatile south, has denied the accusations.

The Organisation of Security and Cooperation in Europe sent a mission of over 300 observers to monitor the ballot.

Sunday's election is the first time nationals of Kyrgyzstan have been required to submit biometric data to cast votes, fuelling fears of teething problems at polling stations grappling with the new technology.

The new government measure has effectively sidelined hundreds of thousands of Kyrgyz migrants working in Russia and other citizens.

Source: AFP