Parliamentary elections were held in Kyrgyzstan on Sunday. According to the preliminary information of the CEC, after processing of 99% of ballots, the Social-Democratic Party is the leader. 27.5% of voters chose it. It is followed by the parties: Republic Ata Zhurt (20.1%), Kyrgyzstan (12.8%), Onuguu-Progress (9.3%), Bit-Bul (8.5%), Ata-Meken (7.75). According to local sources, the results predicted by the CEC can change, but insignificantly. This means that the winner of the parliamentary elections is clear. According to Kyrgyzstan's laws, to get into the parliament, a party should overcome the 7-percent barrier. Therefore, only Ata-Meken will possibly have any problems.
What are the conclusions to be made, according to the results of the voting? Yulia Yakusheva, the Executive Director of the Political Scientific Center North-South, answers the question for Vestnik Kavkaza.
First of all, Kygyzstan has passed another exam on democracy. The elections were held transparently and competitively. Parties had equal opportunities for agitation. Another question is how every party managed to use these resources.
Secondly, those parties which tried to avoid purely populist slogans and touched on real problems of the country and the authorities’ opportunities to solve these problems became winners. Primarily, we speak about the pro-presidential party SDPK, which held the most technological election campaign.
Thirdly, internal political problems prevailed over foreign political issues in the election campaign. The only exception was the question of Kyrgyzstan’s participation in the EAEU, which has been touched on by almost all participating parties. Almost all political forces of Kyrgyzstan presented themselves as pro-Eurasian and pro-Russian ones. It is a serious trend which may be critical not only in the next 5-7 years, but also in the strategic perspective. That is how Kyrgyzstani society defines its foreign political priorities for the authorities.
Fourthly, the authorities almost didn’t use the administrative resources. This was directly reflected in the results of the elections. Any mistakes were purely technical ones. The voter turnout was more than 50%; and the party of Almazbek Atambayev, his political course on further strengthening of relations with Russia, has gained serious support. Thus, Kyrgyzstan is facing a task of providing system modernization in the political and economic spheres. There is no doubt that Moscow will be a reliable ally of Bishkek in implementation of this important mission.
“Many analysts commented on the results of the elections, from the point of view of voting organization, competitiveness of the electoral process, and possible balances of forces inside the future parliamentary coalition. Of course these are important aspects of the issue. However, I would like to speak about another problem – what the topical agenda for Kyrgyzstan is, what problems the winning parties will face in the nearest future? Finally, what influence can the elections have on the foreign political course of the KR, relations between Kyrgyzstan and Russia? In other words, I would like to try to look at the future of post-election Kyrgyzstan,” Yakusheva said.
According to her, the issue which is the most important for the country’s future is the problem of system modernization of the economic and social spheres. Almost every political force which has participated in the elections presents its own version of the perfect future for Kyrgyzstan. But only a few parties (SDPK, Kyrgyzstan, and some others) try to define mechanisms of reaching these ambitious targets.
“A key point is the increase in the quality of human capital in the KR. I mean the scientific and intellectual spheres, the quality of managers, and opportunities for youth to find their future in their native country through getting demanded jobs. There is a great potential for cooperation between Kyrgyzstan and Russia. It should be admitted that Russian bureaucrats don't always clearly understand the importance of the aspect of bilateral cooperation,” Yakusheva said.
She thinks that today the building of a modern state based on democratic institutions, a transparent management system and professional bureaucratic staff, is especially topical today. Atambayev is one of main supporters of holding wide-scale reforms in the sphere of state management.
As for the relations between Bishkek and Russia and the EAEU, the expert said that “Kyrgyzstan has great expectations, but the process of adaptation of the national economy to the demands of the EAEU is very long and difficult. So it is very important that society receives quick and truthful information about all aspects of the EAEU's activities and has full access to the information space of the Union. This is related to local businessmen and to common citizens of the KR. We see that the task directly touches on not only our partners in Kyrgyzstan, but also us, Russian citizens.”
