The Public Foundation "Common Cause" (hereinafter referred to as the Foundation) completes its observation of the post-election period in the country and the summing up of the voting results.
BISHKEK, December 16, 2021 Parliamentary elections were held in Kyrgyzstan on November 28. The Public Foundation "Common Cause" (hereinafter referred to as the Foundation) completes its observation of the post-election period in the country and the summing up of the voting results.
The situation related to the display of preliminary results after 8 p.m. on November 28, 2021, and complaints about the uninterruptedness and the quality of the manual counting processes at some polling stations caused a number of political parties and other electoral subjects to express their discontent and distrust of the electronic counting system.
Due to this situation, on December 2, 2021, the Central Election Commission, together with the Civic Control Committee, held a meeting with representatives of political parties that participated in the parliamentary elections, and the mass media.
As a result of the meeting it was decided to create a group for independent inspection of ARBB and manual vote counting data, which included representatives of political parties and the civil society, including the PF "Common Cause". The Foundation's observers participated in the recount in 8 out of 12 districts.
According to information posted on the official website of the CEC on December 14, 2021, the group completed the recount of votes at the polling stations in the 12 districts, which began on December 10, 2021. Based on the results of the group's work, it was found that, in general, there was no discrepancy between the manual counting and the SBBs.
In the post-election period, 72 long-term observers monitored the process of complaints and summing up of results in all district election commissions.
All District Election Commissions were accessible for observation, and information about the meetings was provided mainly by telephone.
Observers note that the procedure of tabulating the results of voting in a single electoral constituency was very complicated, and the protocols of some PECs contained mistakes. As of 18:00 on December 15, observers of the Foundation received copies of final protocols only in 26 out of 36 district election commissions.
The Foundation conducted a verification of the final protocols of precinct election commissions with the reports of smart ballot boxes (SBBs), final identification checks of voters, and with the data posted on the official website of the Central Commission for Elections and Referendums of the Kyrgyz Republic for all 300 polling stations where the the Foundation conducted observation. At those polling stations where the Foundation's observers were not provided with copies of the manual counting protocols, they had to take photos of protocols.
As a result of the verification, 12 PECs had discrepancies between the number of identified voters and the number of ballots taken out of the automatically reading ballot boxes and other discrepancies. The protocols of 52 PECs contained some mistakes, which did not affect the results of voting, or were filled in partially.
The Foundation's statement regarding 12 PECs was submitted to the CEC KR for consideration and taking measures in accordance with the legislation of the KR.
As a result of the consideration of the Foundation's application, the CEC made the following decision:
- to cancel the results of voting on PECs 1123 and 1346;
- to conduct an internal investigation for PEC 2244 to investigate the facts stated in the Foundation's application;
- for PEC 7219 to remove the PEC member who made the mistake that served as the basis for the Foundation's application.
Due to the untimely provision of final DEC protocols to observers, the Foundation did not have the opportunity to conduct verification of DEC and PEC protocols before the announcement of official results.
In general, according to observers, the socio-political situation in the country is stable. There is no tension associated with the elections. In some districts there are cases of citizens' discontent with the results of voting, in particular with the victory of certain candidates in single-mandate districts. For example, in the Kara-Buura district of Talas province, people dissatisfied with the results held a protest against the victory of one of the candidates. In some cases, citizens have voiced their discontent because the very same deputies of the 6th convocation have been re-elected to the Jogorku Kenesh. In two districts, there were discontent of campaigners due to non-payment of remuneration for their work during the election period.
Furthermore, attention should be drawn to the fact that in two single-mandate districts citizens voted against all candidates. For instance, in Bishkek in the Pervomaisky district the "against all" position got 32.97% of votes, while in the Sverdlovskiy district 37.87% of voters voted "against all". Repeat elections will be held in these districts after the final election results are tallied.
During the entire period of observation of this election campaign, the Foundation identified 283 violations. Of these, 5 complaints were filed to the RRCG, 14 complaints were filed to the CEC Working Group, 99 were filed to DECs, 22 were filed to PECs, and 4 were filed to law enforcement bodies.
The following decisions were made as a result of the review of complaints:
- Annulment of the voting results - 2 (PECs 1123 and 1346);
- Disciplinary penalties were imposed on PEC members in the form of a severe reprimand - 1 (PEC 7341);
- Disciplinary penalties were imposed on PEC members in the form of warnings – 28 (PECs 8187, 4031, 4058, 4108, 4116, 5017, 5043, 5052, 5111, 5115, 5140, 5186, 5191, 5201, 5206, 5215, 5247, 5254, 5299, 5304, 5325, 5434, 5438, 5453, 5456, 5465, 5498, 5510);
- To conduct an internal investigation - 1 (PEC 2244)
- Released from the position of a PEC member - 1 (PEC 7219)
- The DECs issued verbal warnings to political parties - 24.
- The DECs issued verbal warnings to candidates in single-mandate districts - 23.
- A fine was imposed for damaging campaign materials - 1.
The Foundation will reflect the results of parliamentary election observation in its final report.
