Protests at Kyrgyz Vote Result

IWPR Central Asia

Institute for War & Peace Reporting

Sunday, 20 November, 2005

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Demonstrators alleging government interference in the parliamentary election have rallied across Kyrgyzstan to demand that the results of the poll be set aside.

From north to south, President Askar Akaev is facing calls for early presidential elections and the annulment of the February 27 vote, which the opposition said was unfair and dishonest.

Foreign election monitors reported extensive violations in the voting, including restrictions on the press and the last minute cancellation of the registration of candidates seen as unsympathetic to the current authorities.

More than half the country’s parliamentary seats are yet to be decided, and a run-off poll is to be held on March 13.

An almost total information blackout means many people in Kyrgyzstan still have little idea of what’s going on. Most websites are blocked, RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz service Azattyk is off the air, and state run television channels have been largely silent about the allegations of electoral fraud.

The city of Jalalabad in southern Kyrgyzstan is the main flashpoint, with a large opposition-organised protest growing in size since late last week. The Jalalabad region has long been an opposition stronghold.

About 100 people have occupied the regional government headquarters in Jalalabad since March 4, throwing ripped-up photos of President Akaev out of the windows. Up to 5,000 others are rallying in the square outside, their numbers swelled from the original 1,000 with the arrival of demonstrators from out of town.

The city centre is cordoned off, and people who want to travel into Jalalabad have to pass through police checkpoints, with some cars with provincial numberplates being turned away in an effort to stop the protest growing.

Undeterred, and chanting “Akaev resign”, the protestors have set up two traditional yurts and are refusing to leave until the country’s leaders agree to step down. They say they have not come to support any particular candidate but to protest against a poll they insist was deeply flawed.

“People came to the square … for justice that we lack so much in our life,” said Ilyas Aisariev, who was on the scene as a member of the opposition People’s Movement of Kyrgyzstan which, along with Erk and Jany Kyrgyzstan, helped organise the protest. “They came to stand up for their rights which had been violated by the incumbent regime. The authorities denied them the right to choice through blatant interference in the election process. People ran out of patience and took to the square.”

In Bishkek, People’s Movement deputy chairwoman Ishengul Boljurova added, “This is the people’s protest against absurd, dirty elections that took place with great falsifications.”

Prominent opposition politicians Kurmanbek Bakiev, Dooronbek Sadyrbaev and Usen Sydykov have visited the scene of the protest, and have urged the government to reconvene parliament to discuss the current crisis and cancel the results of the 27 poll.

“The authorities are not even trying to satisfy the interests and demands of the people and on the contrary, are displaying cynicism at every step,” Bakiev told IWPR.

So far such appeals for negotiation have fallen on deaf ears, and early this week the situation appeared to be worsening.

Presidential press secretary Abdil Segizbaev described the demands to annul the vote as a “provocation”, and accused the opposition of attempting to incite civil war.

Meanwhile, interior ministry troops and police are on the scene, and an IWPR source said up to 50 men from a special-operations police unit planned to retake the administration building overnight on March 7-8. However, the men are said to be under orders to refrain from using firearms, so as to avoid a repeat of events in Aksy in 2002, when six protestors died after police opened fire on a crowd.

There have also been confrontations between opposition supporters and pro-government demonstrators. Police and soldiers formed a cordon between the two camps on March 6, after a minor skirmish between the two groups that ended with pro-Akaev placards being torn up.

Jalalabad governor Jusupbek Sharipov, with whom the occupiers have refused to meet, has strongly condemned the protestors, accusing losing candidates of stirring up trouble for their own benefit.

“Some people who lost the elections are specially organising these actions,” he said. “Their goal is to get elected. We had normal, transparent elections without violations. Today’s actions are illegal and the organisers should be held responsible.”

Bishkek is also dismissive of the protestors. The deputy head of the presidential administration, Bolot Januzakov, told journalists on March 5 that authorities have the situation under control. He denied the Jalalabad building was occupied, saying local government officials were working there as usual.

Asked whether the authorities were in contact with the demonstrators, Januzakov repeated that the regional government was functioning as normal. “I don’t have to run down there to calm down a few hundred people,” he said.

A high-ranking official who wished to remain anonymous told IWPR, “Why should we fuss about it? They are demonstrating there in exchange for money. When the money’s gone, they will go back home by themselves. When we introduce a state of emergency, the opposition will regret a hundred times that it started this political intrigue.”

The opposition denied it had paid anyone to rally on its behalf. Bektur Asanov, a former parliamentary deputy who lost on February 27, said people had come to Jalalabad to express their discontent. He believes the people of Kyrgyzstan have been victims of electoral fraud.

“My district has 34,000 people living there, but when they counted it up, it turned out that 41,000 people voted,” he said. “Seven thousand non-existent people were added to the lists. The people are definitely dissatisfied. But I did not call on the people to engage in civil war – that’s lies on the part of the authorities.”

Kapar Kaipov, a pensioner from Suzak district in the Jalalabad region, reacted indignantly to suggestions he had been paid to protest. “We simply want justice to rule and our children to live in a decent, fair and prosperous society. Our hopes for the future can’t have a price put to them, and they cannot be sold, ” he said.

The protests have spread from southern region north to the villages of Ottuk and Kyzyl-Tuu in the Naryn region. There, more than 2,000 supporters of opposition deputy Ishenbay Kadyrbekov on March 6 blocked the Bishkek-Torugart road, stopping about 800 vehicles. Arsarbek Ismanov, a Kadyrbekov supporter, told IWPR, “The authorities… don’t respect their people and they violate the rights of voters. When will we vote honestly for the people we want?”

Outrage at the alleged electoral irregularities has united the opposition as never before.

Roza Otunbaeva, a leader of the opposition movement Atajurt, believes Kyrgyzstan’s Central Election Commission and the judicial system have been discredited. She fears the next round of voting will be little better than the first.

“The local authorities have discredited themselves completely,” she said. “They blatantly interfere in the election processes. There is wholesale bribery going on. In the second round, they will want to act even more shamelessly and secure their victory.”

Bakyt Orunbekov, who edits the Fergana newspaper, believes the only way to resolve the crisis is for both sides to meet face to face. “Mutual recriminations by the authorities and the opposition could result in long term confrontation. They urgently need to sit down at the negotiating table and find a way out of the political crisis,” he said.

Jalil Saparov is an independent journalist in Jalalabad. Sultan Jumagulov is a BBC correspondent in Bishkek. Leila Saralaeva is an independent journalist in Bishkek. Alia Abdulina, an independent journalist in Naryn, contributed to this report.