SCO Observer Mission recognizes elections in Kyrgyzstan as transparent and democratic

Bishkek, Nov. 29, 2021. / Kabar /. The observer mission of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) recognized the past parliamentary elections in Kyrgyzstan as transparent, reliable and democratic, Deputy Secretary General of the SCO Yerik Ashimov told at a briefing in Bishkek.

He said that a total of 19 observers from scientific, legislative and electoral departments, diplomatic representatives of the SCO states and officials of the SCO secretariat took part in the mission.

Ashimov indicated that the mission held a number of meetings with the leadership of the Central Election Commission of the Kyrgyz Republic, as well as with secretaries, members of precinct, city and district election commissions, voters, local observers, media representatives and observer missions from international organizations.

“All the conclusions of the mission are based on the conduct of personal observations by the members of the mission, the collected factual material on the eve and on the day of elections. Thus, it can be stated that all political parties on equal terms conducted campaigning, polling stations were provided with the necessary number of automatically reading ballot boxes and equipped with special equipment (cabins, monitor and box) for visual observation, voter identification was carried out using biometric data, an automatic control system," said Ashimov.

He also added that the members of the mission took part in the opening and closing of polling stations, during the sealing of the automatically reading ballot boxes, and the counting of votes.

“It should be noted that the mission was carried out not only in Bishkek, but also in the regions of the republic. Thus, the members of the mission visited about 120 polling stations of their own free will. At the same time, there were no obstacles on the part of state or other bodies,” the SCO deputy secretary general concluded.

“The elections were held in an atmosphere of openness and transparency, with the active participation of the civil society. There were no violations of the norms of the selective legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic, which raised doubts about the legitimacy of the elections. The SCO observer mission recognized the parliamentary elections as transparent, reliable and democratic,” he stated.