Centre in Bishkek strengthens political parties in south of Kyrgyzstan

However, the raw numbers do not tell the whole story. Not only does the general public not know much about the parties, but the parties themselves often do not even know each other, and seldom have any contact.

The OSCE Centre in Bishkek - and in particular its Field Office in Osh, in the south of the country - is aiming to change that with a project to support political parties in developing their programmes and reaching out to the public.

Diverse but unknown

"More than 30 political parties have offices in Osh, and they are quite diverse - for instance, Kyrgyzstan's only women's party is based here," says Jerome Bouyjou, Head of the Field Office in Osh.

"But, according to our initial survey, although people might know some of the big parties that are active nationwide, they rarely know anything about local party branches or the smaller parties and their programmes, even if they are active in their region."

Bolush Saev, who heads the non-governmental organization Luch Lotosa, is in charge of implementing the project: "A lot of participants have told me that they are very grateful for the opportunity to finally meet, exchange their programmes, and talk about possible coalitions."

But many parties lack the capacity to develop a political programme in the first place, or to communicate constructively with the general public. One explanation commonly offered for this is the fact that politics in Kyrgyzstan is highly personalized: rivalries are typically between politicians rather than parties, some of which seem to exist only to serve individual ambitions.

Training sessions

"We therefore recruited local and Kazakh trainers to conduct training sessions in two main areas - political programmes and public relations," explains Rustam Akhmatakhunov, Senior Political Assistant at the Field Office.

"In those sessions, party members learned how to write a political programme and how to communicate it to the general public, as well as how to deal with non-governmental organizations, business associations and the press."

After the training, the parties were given the opportunity to apply their newly-gained knowledge. The Field Office provided them with a half-page in a local newspaper to set out details of their political programmes. They were also able to take part in OSCE-sponsored public debates which were broadcast on local and in some cases national television.

Bujamal Jusupalieva, a student of International Relations at Osh State University, was one of the studio audience during a televised debate between the Pensioner's Party of Kyrgyzstan and the Erkindik Party.

"Most of us grew up with the idea of having only one political party," she says, "so it's important that we get acquainted with different parties, and it's refreshing to see a real political discussion."

Debating clubs

The parties were also given the chance to reach out to the people via a number of debating clubs on topics such as the role of parties in the reform process. These debates attracted a broad range of participants, from journalists and businessmen to members of the local administration.

The debates also drew a lot of attention from different sides: the parties sometimes sent their party leaders or parliamentary deputies from Bishkek to participate, while sizeable crowds turned up to watch the sessions.

Dilbar Altybaeva, leader of Kyrgyzstan's Women's Party, says the debates and training seminars she attended were very useful: "Our party has become quite well-known after the debates were broadcast on TV. Even in the remote town of Batken, people in the streets recognize me."

International interest

The project has also attracted the interest of the donor community, and several international organizations have indicated their willingness to offer support so it can be extended.

"This project will help to stabilize the party system not just here in the south, but eventually in the whole of Kyrgyzstan," says the OSCE's Bouyjou.

"It also has a more immediate benefit: the very fact that the population can talk about their problems helps to defuse tension and promote stability," he adds.