After the 2010 constitutional reform, every vote matters at election of any level.
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After the change of power in April 2010, the replacing politicians promised to build the institute for fair and transparent elections in Kyrgyzstan. According to commentators, the authorities in the last 10 years did a great job in this regard and the voting results are the will expression of the citizens.
In particular, there is a range of problems that clearly demonstrate the shortcoming in the election process. One of them is a well-proven and working scheme of vote buying.
On October 4, 2020, Kyrgyzstan is holding parliamentary election. 16 parties participate in it. Today, the election campaign is on and law enforcement bodies and citizens report various breaches of law.
According to the General Prosecutor’s office, 40 criminal cases were initiated under the “Buying of votes” article as of September 23. 82 criminal cases and 46 offences were registered in total.
According to the monitoring of publications, violations or falsification of documents related to the election process are reported in majority of cases; abuse of administrative resource; buying of voters and receipt of cash by the voters.
For example, after Radio Azattyk published a video on the facts of vote buying, the General Prosecutor’s Office examined the published material. A criminal case was opened regarding a video where one man at the ‘labour market’ in the suburbs of Bishkek offered one to three thousand som (12.5-37.5 dollars) for a vote in Chui region.
Another criminal case was opened in the town of Kara Balta. The regulatory agency established that a message was posted on Facebook where representatives of Kyrgyzstan Party offered 2 thousand som (25 dollars) for a vote in the territory of a school.
According to the Criminal Code of the Kyrgyz Republic, vote buying is liable either to a fine at the rate of 180 to 220 thousand som for regular citizens, and from 220 to 260 thousand som for parliamentary candidates and their relatives, or to imprisonment up to 2.5 years. Mass vote buying carries imprisonment for up to 2.5 years.
A member of the Central Election Commission of the Kyrgyz Republic, Kairat Osmonaliev, explained that law enforcement bodies do not need to wait for complaints from citizens to respond to the facts of election process violations; such cases published online and by the media are sufficient.
“For such mass scale events (large-scale election – editor’s note), the statistical data registered with the ERPP (Unified Register of Crimes and Offences – editor’s note) is rather low. There have been only 30 facts. However, it is not very difficult to identify vote buying. Our country is a country of fearless activists. They do not care to hide when they distribute money,” Osmonaliev said to CABAR.asia.
According to Osmonaliev, the immediate problem now is a problem with the so-called form No. 2 – when a voter is given 1 thousand som for them to register with a right voting station and after the election they are given the remaining portion of money.
If the fact of mass vote buying is confirmed, the Central Election Commission may remove a party or a certain candidate from the election campaign or find voting results at a certain station invalid.
Do not sell your vote – do not sell your future
Compared to previous elections, the campaign against selling one’s vote is being more active now – from the president of the country, civil activists, show business celebrities on out to campaigns in social media, all of them call the citizens for public spirit and countering vote buying.
“Because people sell their votes and turn a blind eye on thieves and corruptionists, over 35 per cent of the population live below the extreme poverty line. I’ve seen the scale of this disaster during the emergency period. We have visited thousands of households across the country,” Urmat Nasykulov, a prominent activist, wrote on Facebook.
A large poster with the message “Do not sell your vote” was hanged by unknown persons on the bridge of the one of the main streets of Bishkek. However, it was taken away soon.
The problem of vote buying is discussed at various forums as one of the key topics of the election.
According to political analyst Emil Zhoroev, all these actions and campaigns against vote buying have their impact on the people in any case.
“I think these [attempts] are better than silence. Even the president covered this topic by saying that such actions as vote buying and data collection cannot influence the choice of voters,” he said to CABAR.asia.
What a voter wants for their vote
In some areas, people agree to vote for a certain party by the whole village or a street in exchange for a road repair, plumbing, electricity installation or construction of a playground.
However, the most effective and frequently practised method is the distribution of money. At this election, one vote costs one to five thousand som (12.5 – 62.5 dollars).
The activist of one of the parties complains that some voters immediately wonder how much the remuneration would be.
“You knock on their door and say you want to tell about a party, its programme, offer a newsletter to them, and they wonder how much the party will pay for their vote,” the activist said. She added that some people say at once that they promised to vote for another party in exchange for their promise to repair a road.
“I was surprised by the fact that only three residents at one street with over 25 households said they would not sell their future for 1 thousand som, took the newsletter and said they would study the programme and choose who to vote for,” she added.
In the villages, one of the kinds of vote buying is an animal sacrifice, distribution of meat and food packages. Such methods are also accompanied by cash incentives.
Money rules?
Political analyst Emil Zhoroev said that parties spend on vote buying as much money as they spend on the election campaign.
“I cannot say for sure how much they spend, but every party has their own structure of spending. The system of money collection and distribution is decentralised and can hardly be tracked down,” he said.
According to another political analyst Aibolot Aidosov, the parties at this election focused more on vote buying rather than on advertising on the media, and the Covid-19 pandemic influenced the budget of the parties.
“At this election, advertising on the media is 30-40 per cent less than in 2015. At the beginning of the election campaign, parties did not have enough handouts, but then politicians understood they needed them much,” he said.
According to Aidosov, despite the criticism, vote buying is a guaranteed method of getting voices today.
One can hardly make one’s way without vote buying
According to political analysts, one can hardly make one’s way to Zhogorku Kenesh without vote buying, and if one can, it would be on the bottom of the list.
According to Emil Zhoroev, there are parties in this election who do not have money but have chances to get to the parliament.
Aibolot Aidosov also thinks that moneyless parties are likely to be elected.
“New parties have emerged as a consequence of coronavirus pandemic and the inability of the state to cope with the situation. In Kyrgyzstan, people have transformed their consciousness despite low education level and unconsciousness. It is a reverse process when people want real changes,” he said.
Political analyst Sheradil Baktygulov added that only those parties that have charismatic persons in them can make it to the parliament without vote buying.
State budget compensations
The parliament of Kyrgyzstan has wide authorities: it considers and approves the state budget, appoints the heads of executive bodies and supervises their activities, makes amendments and develops the legislation, and controls its execution.
According to experts, all these functions are a potential source for monetisation.
“There is a big fight for financial, fiscal and law enforcement agencies. Of course, it creates definite corruption risks because an official in this situation fully depends on a parliamentarian,” political analyst Aibolot Aidosov said.
The process of contributing big money to the election system, vote buying and then getting the money back in Kyrgyzstan was launched in the times of the first president Askar Akayev.
According to Sheradil Baktygulov, the administrative resource and vote rigging was used widely in the times of Akayev. Back then, the opponents of the authorities started to use the system of vote buying.
As experts note, there is no universal and quick way to solve this problem. It depends on the activity of the public, consciousness of citizens and transparent and impartial performance of state bodies that must counter this malpractice.
This article was prepared as part of the Giving Voice, Driving Change – from the Borderland to the Steppes Project