IPA CIS International Observers Meet With Kyrgyz CEC Leadership

The IPA CIS international observers at the parliamentary elections in the Kyrgyz Republic, headed by Team Coordinator, Chairman of the Committee of the Mazhilis of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan on International Affairs, Defense and Security Mukhtar Yerman, met with Chairman of the Central Commission for Elections and Referenda of the Kyrgyz Republic Nurzhan Shaldabekova.

The head of the CEC noted that Kyrgyzstan studied the experience of other countries, and, despite the fact that a number of regions had an emergency regime, decided not to abandon the election campaign, since “the mandatory nature and frequency of elections are important factors for the stable development of the country”.

The participants of the meeting discussed the features of the application of new technologies in electoral processes, which make it possible to achieve reliability, transparency, and therefore raise confidence of citizens in the electoral system and election results.

Nurzhan Shildabekova spoke about this year’s innovations. First of all, the number of contactless formats for informing voters has been increased: a special website has been launched containing all the information about each of the candidates for MP.

In order to let the citizens better learn about the candidates, their ability to conduct discussions, their management potential, the debates had been launched in the media from the very beginning of the election campaign.

The coordination groups for prompt response to the voters’ appeals have become another innovation in the elections. They do not aim to replace the law enforcement agencies, but to quickly process complaints and inform citizens on the election day.

Nurzhan Shildabekova thanked the observers for taking part in monitoring of the elections and noted the important role of the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly in summarizing the experience of the development of electoral processes across the Commonwealth.

Coordinator of the IPA CIS Observer Team Mukhtar Yerman noted that 47 people from eight CIS countries would work as part of the CIS observer mission in Kyrgyzstan. He conveyed the CEC Chairperson the Conclusion on the Compliance of the Electoral Legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic with the International Law prepared following a long-term observation conducted by the IIMDD IPA CIS representatives.

IPA CIS Council Secretary General Dmitriy Kobitskiy raised the issue of combating false information and illegal campaigning on the Internet. He recalled that the Kyrgyz representatives were among the first who indicated the need to amend the legislative regulation in that field.