Voter turnout in Bishkek. Comparison of the April and July elections.
On July 11, 2021, three cities - Osh, Tokmok, and Bishkek - held repeat elections of deputies to local councils. 30.51 percent of voters took part in them according to the Central Election Commission, More than 188,000 people came to the polling stations.
The lowest voter turnout was in Bishkek. According to the manual count, 104,141 voters, or 24.41 percent of those included in the voter list, cast their ballots in the capital city. It is to be recalled that 134,058 voters, or 31.93 percent, cast their ballots on April 11.
The Common Cause PF experts analyzed the CEC data and demonstrated visually how the voter turnout in the capital city changed in April and July (Map 1) by districts of Bishkek. In order to analyze the voter turnout, only the valid ballots from April 11 (132,415) and July 11 (103,431) were taken into account, that is, the votes that had been counted when summing up the voting results.
Map 1
Below are four diagrams for each district of Bishkek, which show the dynamics of voter turnout decline for each polling station.
The Oktyabrsky district saw the largest decrease in voter turnout in the elections of July 11, 2021. In contrast to the April local council elections, not a single polling station there saw an increase of voters. The largest decrease was in polling station No. 1148, by 396 voters whose votes had been previously counted. Polling station No. 1136 saw the smallest decrease, by only 16 voters whose votes had been previously counted.
Besides, at polling station No. 1141 the voting results were cancelled due to the fact that the results could not be reliably established during the verification of accuracy of protocols and vote counting by the Bishkek TEC.
Figure 1
In the Sverdlovsky district, polling station No. 1327 saw the largest decrease, by 242 valid ballots. However, at polling stations No. 1311, 1313, 1353, 1356, 1355 and 1354 there was an increase compared to the last elections on April 11. For instance, at polling station No. 1311, there were 116 more valid ballots in the elections of July 11, 2021, than in the April elections.
Figure 2
There was also a significant decrease in the Pervomaisky district, for example, polling station No. 1217 saw the largest decrease in the district, by 300 valid ballots. There were also some polling stations which, on the contrary, saw an increase: No. 1242, 1240, 1243, 1212, and 1205. The latter had the most increase, by 25 valid ballots compared to the last election.
Figure 3
Leninsky district is the most populous in Bishkek. It saw an increase in the number of valid ballots at ten polling stations. Polling station No. 1010 saw the largest increase in the district, up by 70 than in the April elections. In contrast, at polling station 1052, this number dropped the most, by 336 valid ballots.
Figure 4
The analysis thus showed a 21.89 percent decrease in the city’s voter turnout in July compared to April, amounting to 28,984 valid ballots (Figure 5). Detailed per districts, the largest decline was in the Oktyabrsky district, 31.21 percent below the April vote, or 10,654 ballots. In Sverdlovsky district - 19.36 percent down, or 5,992 ballots, in Pervomaisky district - 18.68 percent down, or 5,438 ballots, and in Leninsky district - 18.15 percent down, or 6,990 ballots (Map 1).
Figure 5
