CSTO PA observers met with Kyrgyz Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic

Representatives of the group of international observers from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organization met with Ruslan Kazakbayev, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic, to review the preparations for the snap presidential election and the Referendum on Amendments to the Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic.
During the meeting, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic said that currently the preparations for the snap presidential election and referendum on January 10 are at the final stage; considerable work has been done together with the Central Commission for Elections and Referenda of the Kyrgyz Republic to prepare for the election and referendum. “All efforts are being made to conduct the election on the basis of democratic principles in accordance with the national legislation and the state’s international obligations,” stressed Ruslan Kazakbayev.
He emphasized that in order to achieve transparency, fairness and credibility of the election, digital technologies were introduced in the electoral process to the maximum extent possible.
Special attention was paid to the voter identification equipment and automatic vote counting used in the election.
Mr Kazakbayev noted that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic carried out a number of activities to prepare the diplomatic missions and consular offices of the Kyrgyz Republic for the election and referendum.
“To increase electoral opportunities for Kyrgyz citizens living or staying outside the country, 48 polling stations were organized on the territory of diplomatic missions and consular offices of the Kyrgyz Republic abroad.”
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic expressed confidence that the international observers from the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly “will be able to comprehensively and objectively assess the upcoming electoral process” and asked to convey his deep gratitude to Vyacheslav Volodin, Chairman of the CSTO PA Council and Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, “for the assistance provided in sending the CSTO PA mission to monitor the preparation and conduct of the snap presidential election and referendum in the Kyrgyz Republic.”
In his turn, Rustam Shokhmurod, group coordinator and Chairman of the Committee on Law Enforcement, Defence and Security of the Majlisi Namoyandagon of the Majlisi Oli of the Republic of Tajikistan, thanked Mr Kazakbayev for the informative meeting and stressed that in their work the CSTO PA international observers are guided by the election legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic and the Convention on Standards of Democratic Election, Voting Rights and Freedoms in the Member States of the Commonwealth of Independent States of October 7, 2002.
The group of international observers from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organization is monitoring the snap presidential election and referendum in the Kyrgyz Republic by the invitation of Talant Mamytov, Toraga (Speaker) of the Jogorku Kenesh of the Kyrgyz Republic.