On November 28, 2021, election to Zhogorku Kenesh – the unicameral parliament of the country – is taking place in Kyrgyzstan. According to latest data, the Central Election Commission registered 21 political parties and 284 candidates of single-member districts for participation in the election.
After the October 2020 events, where one of the key reasons was discontent with the parliamentary election results, the law “On elections in the Kyrgyz Republic” was amended. Now the election process will be held otherwise – deputies will be fewer, and the Kyrgyzstanis will vote under a mixed system – proportional representation (party) and majority voting (single-member district).
What other changes are there in the election process? What is the procedure and how the citizens will vote this time? Let’s see the details.
As of early November, according to the Central Election Commission, 21 political parties applied to take part in the election to Zhogorku Kenesh 2021. Thus, the following parties were registered: According to the rules, every party has their own programme, which contains goals and objectives of the party, as well as plans it is going to achieve in case of election. For each party’s programme, please see: https://talapker.shailoo.gov.kg/ru/jk2021. As of November 24, the list of candidates in single-member districts contained 284 persons. Among them are entrepreneurs, government officials and temporarily unemployed. At the beginning of the election race, the total number of candidates in single-member districts exceeded 300, and they became fewer in a month. For full list of candidates, please see: https://shailoo.gov.kg/ru/news/5934/. A member of parliament, according to the new constitutional law, can be a citizen of the Kyrgyz Republic who has reached the age of 25 by the time of election. Among amendments, there is an essential requirement – the candidate for deputy must have higher education. In July, the International Republican Institute (IRI – the American international NGO) conducted a survey regarding the situation in the country and forthcoming election. By results of the survey, 38 per cent of Kyrgyzstanis said that such factors as education and literacy are most important in their determining whether or not they will vote for a candidate, and 35 per cent said honesty and conscientiousness. According to the law, the candidate shall renounce their power once he/she runs for parliament if he/she works as: According to new rules, the list of prohibited types of activities for a potential deputy include: There will be 90 deputies instead of 120 in the parliament; they will be elected once in 5 years. Among them: The right to nominate candidates for Zhogorku Kenesh belongs to: – political parties – under the proportional representation system; – political parties and self-nominated citizens – under the majority voting system. According to the analysis of the Centre for Political and Legal studies (CPPI – Kyrgyz analytics centre located in Bishkek), the use of two different electoral systems can cause some difficulties, including: Moreover, activities of all participants of the election process must be arranged so that they meet deadlines and procedures the same way as the CEC in order to implement the regulations of the new elections law effectively and in a timely manner. The proportional representation system means voting by party lists. After elections, every party gets such number of mandates as proportional to the number of votes won. For example, if a party receives 25 per cent of votes, it gets ¼ seats in the parliament, respectively. But before it can enter Zhogorku Kenesh, the party should overcome the 5 per cent threshold across the republic and win 0.5 per cent in each of the regions, as well as in the cities of Bishkek and Osh. According to the law, the party may nominate not more than 54 candidates in the proportional representation system. However, it should include in its list: – not more than 70 per cent of candidates of the same gender, and the difference in the order in which male and female candidates are placed on the list of candidates nominated by political parties must not exceed 3 positions; – at least 15 per cent of candidates must be younger than 35, and at least 3 candidates among them must be included in the top 25 candidates; – at least 15 per cent of candidates must have different ethnic background, and at least 3 candidates among them must be included in the top 25 candidates; – at least 2 candidates must be persons with disabilities, and one of them must be included in the top 25 candidates. In the majority voting system, the winner is the candidate who wins the majority of votes. In single-member districts, according to the law, candidates are nominated both by political parties and by themselves. If a candidate runs independently, he/she should apply to CEC as an independent candidate in a given electoral district. If the candidate withdraws, he/she should notify the CEC at least 3 days before the Election Day. If candidates in the single-member district win equal number of votes, the winner shall be the candidate who first submitted a full package of documents for registration. Elections in single-member districts will be held in one round of balloting only. According to the new law, a party must allocate at least 30 per cent of mandates between female candidates who won most of the votes. If female candidates on the political party’s list of candidates have not won votes, the remaining mandates through the female quota shall be allocated according to the order of female candidates on the party list. According to analysts of the Centre for Political and Legal Studies, Zhogorku Kenesh used this norm to cause internal discontent and conflict in the party, when there are 25 per cent of women on the party list, whereas mandates should be allocated at least to 30 per cent of female candidates. “Because of the percentage inconsistency, once a party gains mandates after the election, female candidates who are below male candidates on the list must be moved up on the list and get their mandates,” according to the analysis. Due to the new rules, the form of ballots has changed. On the election day, the voter will receive 2 ballots. One will contain a list of political parties in the order drawn by lot, and 54 empty boxes numbered from the left outer side of the box. The number of an empty box corresponds to the serial number of the candidate on the party list. The second one used for single-member districts will contain surnames, names, patronymic names and birth years of candidates in the order drawn by lot. According to CEC, at election of single-member district representatives, the voter shall: At election of deputies in the single-member district, the voter shall: Check the box “Against all” if they do not choose any political party. No, you may not. This right was revoked last year due to numerous complaints. Please keep in mind that form No. 2 is a document that must be filed by the voter to change the polling place to the de-facto tenure during election. According to the rules, the polling place may not be specified within the same locality. However, at previous election, there were cases of vote-buying because the form entitled a voter to vote without registration. This fact may affect the election results. In 2020, Zhogorku Kenesh adopted amendments to the electoral law by removing form No. 2. According to the new law, the electoral threshold is set to 5 per cent. For a party to nominate its candidates, it must pass this threshold. After the October 2020 events, amid the uncertainty, members of parliament lowered the electoral threshold from former 7 to 3 per cent. However, later it was raised to 5 per cent. The regional threshold is 0.5 per cent of voters taking part in the voting, for each region, cities of Bishkek and Osh. The mandates will be allocated under following scheme: – initially, at least 30 per cent of total number of mandates received by a political party will be allocated between female candidates who won most votes. – then, 70 per cent of total number of mandates will be allocated between candidates who won most votes compared to other candidates. By results of the election, the political party will receive not more than 50 per cent of total number of seats in the Zhogorku Kenesh according to the proportional representation. In turn, a candidate who wins most votes of voters taking part in the election in a given single-member district will become a deputy of the Zhogorku Kenesh in a single-member district. According to the law “On elections in the Kyrgyz Republic”, CEC may invalidate the election results if: 1) the number of votes for a candidate who has won most of votes compared to another candidate is less than the number of votes passed against all candidates. In this case, re-election shall be carried out; 2) no list of candidates has won the required number of votes to qualify for a mandate; 3) if the number of voters voting for the list of candidates, which has won most votes compared to other lists of candidates, is less than the number of votes cast against all lists of candidates. In this case, re-election shall be carried out. The number of voters taking part in the election shall be determined by the number of ballots of a standard form taken out of the box, and, if additional control is needed, by the number of voter IDs. Re-election will be scheduled if CEC has invalidated the election, and the candidate and political parties have not been elected by results of the election. Re-election shall be scheduled by CEC within one month. According to the law, the candidates who have caused the invalidation of the election will not be allowed for re-election. This publication was produced as part of the mentorship programme under the Development of New Media and Digital Journalism in Central Asia project delivered by the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) with support from the UK Government. It does not necessarily reflect the official views of IWPR or the UK Government