Parliamentary elections in Kyrgyzstan 2000
The 2000 parliamentary elections in Kyrgyzstan were held on February 20, 2000 with a runoff election on March 12, 2000 in Kyrgyzstan . A total of 105 members were elected in both houses of parliament. Most of the mandates went to independent candidates .
Electoral system
The parliamentary election in 2000 was the last parliamentary election before the constitutional referendum in 2003, through which the change from a bicameral system to a unicameral system was accomplished. Compared to the 1995 parliamentary elections, however, the electoral system has been significantly adjusted. In 2000, a total of 105 mandates were voted in the two chambers of the Kyrgyz parliament. The 60 seats in the legislative assembly were awarded through a combination of proportional representation and majority voting. In 45 electoral districts across the country, one member was elected to the legislative assembly by majority vote, with the latter having to win an absolute majority of the votes in his constituency. If none of the candidates succeeded in this in the first ballot, a runoff election was held on March 12, 2000 in the constituency concerned. The remaining 15 mandates were awarded by proportional representation on the electoral lists of the registered parties. A blocking clause of 5% of the votes applied.
In the second chamber of parliament, the assembly of the people's representatives, 45 seats were to be awarded. These were all awarded by majority vote in the 45 electoral districts of the country, also provided that there was an absolute majority for one candidate. A total of 105 mandates were accordingly awarded, 90 of them by majority vote in the 45 electoral districts and the remaining 15 by proportional representation.
background
After Kyrgyzstan after the collapse of the Soviet Union by many as ,, island of democracy "in general by authoritarian regimes dominated Central Asia was praised, it came under the President Askar Akayev to a gradual shift away from the democratic orientation of the system towards a strong presidential system, in which the work of the free opposition was severely restricted or even banned. After his re-election in the presidential elections in Kyrgyzstan in 1995 , Akayev managed to unite more power over himself and the office of president. Through constitutional referendums in 1996 and 1998 the right to vote and the The composition of parliament changed, the president was strengthened over parliament.
Candidates and parties
The registration of the individual candidates and the parties caused complications and discussions in the run-up to the election, as the process of registration required a number of documents and formalities. Candidates had to provide detailed information about their finances and back them up with a large number of documents. Many candidates criticized the fact that the registration process was not standardized and made it possible for candidates to be treated differently. Eventually 420 candidates were admitted and registered for election.
The admission process for parties and electoral blocks also caused controversy, in particular Article 92 of the Electoral Ordinance, which stated, among other things, that parties had to register one year before the official appointment of the election. This resulted in January 20, 1999 as the reference date for the registration of the parties. The registration of five parties fell victim to this deadline, including the pro-government Adilet party and the two important opposition parties, the People's Party and Ar-Namys . The exclusion of these parties from the election was sued to no avail, the strict interpretation of the registration regulations was confirmed and thus had a major influence on the election and in particular on the strength of the opposition. The Democratic Movement Party of Kyrgyzstan was also excluded from the election despite having registered in due time, as it had politicians from the excluded Ar-Namys party on its electoral list. This practice was condemned by the electoral commission and led to the expulsion of the party. Since this process was not directly covered by the Kyrgyz electoral law, observers spoke of a political decision.
After this thinning of the party landscape before the parliamentary elections, there were eleven parties left, who ran for the election and drew up an election list.
Election campaign
In the run-up to the parliamentary elections, there was a lively election campaign between the various parties and candidates. This included debates on television , election ads, newspaper ads, and election posters . Numerous local events and debates met with great audience interest. The main topics in the political debate before the elections were the development of the economy, the fight against unemployment and corruption and access to medical care. In addition to the parties, whose positions could often not be clearly delimited from one another, independent candidates also shaped the election campaign.
The Kyrgyz media played an important role in the election campaign. In general, equal treatment of the parties was sought, but this could only be partially implemented. State media tended to take a pro-government line, for example the state-controlled newspaper Slovo Kyrgyzstana only published advertisements from parties loyal to the government. Other newspapers were close to the opposition during the election campaign and supported it with advertisements and texts. All parties were given airtime on state television, but the reporting was positive towards the government. Smaller, non-state media outlets in many cases gave more differentiated reporting, but were often exposed to pressure from government authorities and were sometimes pressured into self-censorship . Overall, the media were an elementary part of the election campaign and were used by parties loyal to the government and opposition parties, but balanced and differentiated reporting was only possible to a limited extent.
Election process
The first and second rounds of parliamentary elections were peaceful and orderly. In the first ballot, observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe visited 600 polling stations in 42 of the 45 electoral districts and the course of the election was observed. Kyrgyz election observers from non-governmental organizations and political parties were present in around 99% of the polling stations . A common electoral process was the presence of local dignitaries at polling stations. These helped in part to facilitate the organization of the election, but in many cases were close to individual candidates and were therefore suspected of exerting influence. Due to imprecise electoral lists, it was sometimes not possible to effectively prevent double voting in the election.
Result
The parliamentary elections in 2000 once again demonstrated the low attractiveness of political parties in Kyrgyzstan. As in previous elections, independent MPs formed the largest group in the newly formed Kyrgyz Parliament:
| Political party | Proportional representation | Majority seats | Total seats |
|---|---|---|---|
| Union of Democratic Forces | 4th | 8th | 12 |
| Communist Party of Kyrgyzstan | 5 | 1 | 6th |
| Maya strana | 1 | 3 | 4th |
| Women's Democratic Party | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Party of Veterans of the Afghan War | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| People's Party | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Ata Meken | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Agricultural Labor Party | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Erkin | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Independent | 0 | 73 | 73 |
| total | 15th | 90 | 105 |
With the Union of Democratic Forces, a party close to President Akayev became the strongest force in the Kyrgyz parliament. After the election, the Kyrgyz political party landscape remained fragmented and dynamic, and split-offs and start-ups changed it regularly. The victory of independent candidates in a majority of the constituencies demonstrates the low importance of parties in Kyrgyz politics at the time of the election.
rating
The election was followed and evaluated by numerous foreign and Kyrgyz election observers. The 115-strong observation team from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe came to a positive assessment in most cases, and in 90% of the polling stations visited, the implementation of the election was rated positively. On the other hand, reports about the influencing of student voting behavior by universities, including the Bishkek Agricultural University, made negative headlines. In this case, the university's director ran for a seat in the Kyrgyz parliament and the university's students were pressured to vote for it. Most of the irregularities were recorded in the Jalalabat area in western Kyrgyzstan. Local officials clearly intervened in the election campaign in favor of individual candidates, and observers questioned the final results in individual electoral districts. In addition to the general expansion of the organization of the election, the OSCE observers also criticized the way in which opposition parties and politicians were dealt with. In particular, the difficult registration processes and irregularities in the counting of votes prevented them from participating in the election fairly and on an equal footing.
consequences
In the wake of the election, the country was particularly concerned with the election of the former mayor of Bishkek and later Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan, Felix Kulow . As a candidate for the opposition in his constituency, which was marked by irregularities in the counting of votes to the disadvantage of Kulov, he lost, according to official information, in the second ballot. Shortly after the election, Kulov was arrested and sentenced in 2001 to seven years in prison. In the Kara-Buraa district in northwest Kyrgyzstan and in Bishkek, protests broke out after the arrest of Kulov, some of which were violently broken up by the police.
The non-party politician Kurmanbek Bakiev , who took office on December 21, 2000 , became Prime Minister . He announced his resignation from office in May 2002 after six demonstrators were shot dead by police forces. In the course of the tulip revolution in 2005 and the ousting of President Akayev, Bakiyev was able to rise as the leader of the opposition movement to become the new President of Kyrgyzstan.
Individual evidence
- ↑ OSCE (ed.): KYRGYZ REPUBLIC PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS February 20 & March 12, 2000 . tape 1 . Warsaw April 10, 2000, p. 2 .
- ↑ Kyrgyzstan -. Retrieved March 29, 2020 .
- ^ Cheema, G. Shabbir,: Building democratic institutions: governance reform in developing countries . Boulder, ISBN 978-1-56549-619-4 , pp. 36 f .
- ↑ Koszinowski, Thomas ,, Mattes, Hanspeter ,: Middle East Yearbook 2000: Politics, Economy and Society in North Africa and the Near and Middle East. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2001, ISBN 978-3-322-97532-4 , p. 260 .
- ↑ OSCE (ed.): KYRGYZ REPUBLIC PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS February 20 & March 12, 2000 . tape 1 . Warsaw April 10, 2000, p. 4th ff .
- ↑ OSCE (ed.): KYRGYZ REPUBLIC PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS February 20 & March 12, 2000 . tape 1 . Warsaw April 10, 2000, p. 9 ff .
- ↑ OSCE (ed.): KYRGYZ REPUBLIC PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS February 20 & March 12, 2000 . tape 1 . Warsaw April 10, 2000, p. 20 .
- ↑ OSCE (ed.): KYRGYZ REPUBLIC PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS February 20 & March 12, 2000 . tape 1 . Warsaw April 10, 2000, p. 19th ff .
- ↑ Bruce Pannier: Kyrgyzstan . No. 1 , 2007.
