Kyrgyzstan's Elections Betray Citizens' Hopes for Progress

Freedom House is deeply disappointed by the conduct of yesterday’s presidential vote in Kyrgyzstan. 

Election monitors with the Organization for Security and Cooperation (OSCE) in Europe said the vote fell far short of Kyrgyzstan’s commitments as an OSCE participating state. Monitors said the elections were marred by an unlevel playing field that favored the incumbent, including the misuse of state resources. Opposition candidates faced intimidation and obstruction of their campaigns and media bias prevented citizens from making informed choices. Election day saw ballot box stuffing, multiple voting and inaccurate voting lists, as well as widespread irregularities that affected the vote count and tabulation of results.

“The shameful conduct of this election represents a betrayal of the Kyrgyz people’s hopes for progress after the Tulip Revolution,” said Jennifer Windsor, Freedom House executive director. “Given Kyrgyzstan’s democratic freefall under President Bakiyev, the government is unlikely to adopt the serious democratic reforms needed without intense pressure from the international community, including the United States.”

Kyrgyzstan’s election fits a disturbing pattern Freedom House has observed over the last five years in which elections in a number of former-Soviet states have become increasingly uncompetitive and unfair. 

“This is just one part of a broader negative trend that also features increasing controls over the media, pressure on civil society groups promoting reforms, and the passage of repressive legislation curtailing citizens’ basic civil and political rights,” said Jeff Goldstein, Freedom House senior program manager.

Kyrgyzstan is ranked as a consolidated authoritarian regime for the first time in the 2009 edition of Nations in Transit, Freedom House’s annual assessment of democratic reform in 29 former communist countries. The country’s democracy scores dropped to their lowest level since the study’s inception in 1995, with declines noted in national governance, media independence and civil society. The country’s marks for electoral process remained low, but are likely to decline further given Thursday’s election.

For more information on Kyrgyzstan, visit:                                                                                                                                       

Nations in Transit 2009: Kyrgyzstan

Freedom in the World 2009: Kyrgyzstan

Freedom of the Press 2008: Kyrgyzstan

Freedom House, an independent nongovernmental organization that supports the expansion of freedom in the world, has been monitoring political rights and civil liberties in Kyrgyzstan since 1990.