OSCE supports Kyrgyzstan’s Central Election Commission in conducting public discussion of October’s presidential election outcomes

The Programme Office in Bishkek supported the Central Election Commission of Kyrgyzstan in organizing a debate on 28 November 2017 on the lessons learnt from the October 2017 presidential elections and on issues to further consolidate the country’s electoral system.

The event brought together representatives of the key bodies involved in the conduct of the presidential election, including the Parliament and Government of Kyrgyzstan, the election administration, political parties, international organizations and embassies, civil society and the media.

The participants received first-hand information related to electoral legislation, the election administration, the findings of the domestic and international observation missions, and recommendations to improve the electoral system.

“The election process is not a one-day event but a process that starts long before Election Day and continues long after that,” said Pierre von Arx, Head of the OSCE Programme Office in Bishkek. “Such a process is conditional to enhanced co-operation between state institutions, local administration bodies and civil society organizations that actively work to strengthen democracy.”  

The OSCE Programme Office assisted Kyrgyzstan in conducting the 2017 presidential election in a fair and transparent way through enhancing the capacity of the relevant state institutions responsible for administering elections and improving electoral legislation. Two important achievements were the promotion of the voter identification system and the establishment of the Centre for Competence to provide training on newly-introduced voting technologies.

More than 700 domestic observers were trained over the pre-election, election and post-election periods. Specifically, the OSCE Office supported training members of the election commissions at all levels, educating voters on the electoral procedures, conducting public awareness activities on electoral procedures, enhancing the voters’ and population registration system, and empowering civil society to conduct independent domestic observation.

Nurjan Shaildabekova, Chair of the Central Election Commission, said: “The recent elections have been marked by the introduction of a new model of conducting elections, and the use of voter identification and automated ballot boxes that allowed for the openness and transparency of voting results. We look forward to further collaboration with our partners to implement their recommendations.”

The public dialogue was conducted within the OSCE project on assisting Kyrgyzstan in improving the electoral system, in a partnership with the EU, IFES and UNDP.