Artyom Turov: The election taking place in the Kyrgyz Republic today is competitive

“The election to the Jogorku Kenesh that is taking place in the Kyrgyz Republic today is fairly competitive,” said Artyom Turov, deputy Chairman of the Committee for CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, an international observer from the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly to the election to the Jogorku Kenesh of the Kyrgyz Republic.
According to him, a large number of parties and candidates are in close competition for parliamentary mandates, but it also brings “a certain nervousness” to the polling stations.
“This is explained by the competitiveness and political contention of the election campaign,” said Artyom Turov.
“We saw a number of cases that observers did not understand. For our part, as international observers we have repeatedly made reprimands at several polling stations,” he emphasizes.
Nevertheless, Artyom Turov is sure that the election can be generally characterized as taking place within the framework of the current national legislation: a thorough system of citizens’ identification verification is built in order to avoid double voting, an advanced electronic biometric system is used to protect the constituents’ votes and their right to choose.
Artyom Turov stressed that all of the polling stations they visited also observed sanitary measures against the coronavirus. He said, “At all the polling stations it is possible to get personal protective equipment and undergo some degree of disinfection.”
Artyom Turov notes that voters, when visiting polling stations, enter in batches of several people to avoid a crowd inside the polling station and observe social distance.
As for international observers present at the election, according to the parliamentarian, they are very active, including the delegation from the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly.
“We monitor the observance of civil rights and electoral legislation. We observe how political parties and candidates conducted their campaign and today, on the day of voting, we observe how the process is organized directly at the polling stations, how issues related to security, including sanitary safety, are controlled,” Artyom Turov said.
“Overall, I think that international observers play a significant role because international observers assess the course of voting, evaluate how open and competitive the election was.”
The large number of international observers from various organizations working today in the election to the Jogorku Kenesh of the Kyrgyz Republic, Artyom Turov believes, on the one hand, shows the interest in the election in Kyrgyzstan and, on the other hand, confirms Kyrgyzstan’s openness and the democratic nature of the current electoral system.