In Kyrgyzstan, elections to the country's parliament have ended.

16 political parties fought for parliamentary seats.

According to the preliminary results of the counting of votes by automatically reading ballot boxes, candidates from three parties enter the Jogorku Kenesh (parliament). 

Birimdik and Mekenim Kyrgyzstan each received about 24% of the vote, the Kyrgyzstan party gained about 8.74%.

Also, the 7% barrier for getting seats in parliament established by law was overcome by the opposition party Butun Kyrgyzstan.

However, these data are not final - the voting results will be announced only after manual counting.

On election day, 2,430 polling stations were opened in the republic, 45 more worked abroad, including in the cities of the Russian Federation: in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Surgut, Krasnoyarsk, Novosibirsk, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Vladivostok, etc. 

  • Talantbek Imanov, candidate for deputy from the Birimdik party, at a polling station

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  • © Talantbek Imanov

According to official statistics, over 3.5 million Kyrgyzstanis have the right to vote.

Compared to the previous elections to the Jogorku Kenesh in 2015, the number of voters increased by 762.2 thousand people or by 27.6%.

As the Deputy Chairman of the Central Election Commission of Kyrgyzstan Abdyzhapar Bekmatov specified at a press briefing, voting outside polling stations took place on October 3, the “day of silence”.

More than 24 thousand citizens took part in it, which amounted to 83% of the number of people who applied for early voting.

“4448 people could not vote for various reasons - they did not have a passport or there was an identity document, but the old model,” Bekmatov explained.

The voting process in Kyrgyzstan was followed by 277 international observers from 43 countries of the world, including Russia.

Representatives of 77 public organizations and parties participating in the elections were also present at the polling stations.

In an interview with Radio Sputnik Kyrgyzstan, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots Kazbek Taisayev noted that observers from the Commonwealth of Independent States were satisfied with the preparation of elections in the republic. 

According to the deputy, the system of biometric data introduced by the Central Election Commission does not allow voting twice and throwing ballots.

“At several polling stations, we asked for an experiment and, with the permission of observers, tested this system.

In fact, it turned out that it is impossible to vote twice, as well as to throw in a large number of ballots, ”said Taisayev. 

The Jogorku Kenesh has 120 seats.

According to the Constitution of Kyrgyzstan, according to the results of voting, one political force can be given no more than 65 mandates. 

"Fair and transparent"

On the morning of October 4, the president of the republic, Sooronbai Jeenbekov, voted at PEC No. 1327 in Bishkek.

After the vote, the leader of Kyrgyzstan said that all parties were given equal opportunities for campaigning and covering their election programs in the media.

“We did our best to make these elections fair and transparent.

All parties have been given equal opportunities, the same conditions have been created.

Party debates were widely reported on television and radio.

The election campaign was held in a very strong political competition, ”Jeenbekov said.

On October 2, in his address before the “day of silence,” Jeenbekov recalled that a year before the elections, new norms were introduced into the legislation of Kyrgyzstan aimed at preventing violations and using administrative resources.

After that, the president called on the parties that will not get into the Jogorku Kenesh not to provoke a split in society.

  • President of Kyrgyzstan Sooronbai Jeenbekov

  • © president.kg

"We will take decisive measures against those whose actions will threaten the unity of the people, interethnic harmony, the integrity of our state and the rule of law," Jeenbekov warned.

In general, voting in Kyrgyzstan took place in a calm atmosphere and was not accompanied by massive violations.

The Central Election Commission recorded several dozen different complaints, six of them are vote bribery, for which the parties face withdrawal from the elections. 

"If the facts are proven, the perpetrators will be prosecuted and the cases will be sent to court," CEC member Tynchtyk Shainzarov told reporters.

In a pandemic

Elections to the Jogorku Kenesh were held amid the coronavirus pandemic.

According to Johns Hopkins University, the number of registered cases of COVID-19 in Kyrgyzstan exceeds 47.4 thousand people.

Before the elections, all PEC members were provided with personal protective equipment.

The authorities involved more than 5 thousand doctors in monitoring the health status of citizens who come to the polling stations.

If necessary, voters could get masks, gloves and antiseptics at the polling stations.

Earlier, the republic's CEC warned that the voting process could cause inconvenience to the Kyrgyz people.

Citizens were asked to treat the current situation with understanding and comply with sanitary standards.

On election day, the overwhelming majority of Kyrgyzstanis observed the mask regime, but due to the large flow of people, queues arose at some polling stations in Kyrgyzstan.

In particular, in Osh, 200-300 people have gathered at the entrances to voting places since 8 am.

It was in this city that the highest electoral activity in Kyrgyzstan was observed.

At the same time, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the republic, voting took place without large-scale violations of public order.