Text of report by Kyrgyz radio on 10th February

[Presenter] Following the decree signed by the president of the Kyrgyz
Republic, Askar Akayev, setting the date of elections to the Legislative
Assembly and Assembly of People's Representatives of the parliament, the
agencies of the Public Prosecutor's Office were set the task of ensuring
that the Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic and the laws were observed in
the run-up to and during the elections. Following the decree by the head of
state, the law-enforcement agencies have carried out a number of
organizational measures. For example, a hot line has been established. Here
is an interview with Prosecutor-General Asanbek Sharshenaliyev.

[Sharshenaliyev, in progress] Commensurate measures are being adopted
against similar cases by public prosecutors. However, the agencies of the
Public Prosecutor's Office are in no way substituting the electoral
commissions' activities, they are merely performing their own functions in
support of lawfulness. I must say in all fairness that there is a
noticeable tendency towards greater observance of lawfulness ahead of the
elections in the localities compared with in the previous elections in
1995. Nevertheless, the analysis of the state of lawfulness during the
election campaign shows [word indistinct] that there have been certain
cases of violations of the election law. The number of violations will
naturally increase as polling day approaches. The agencies of the Public
Prosecutor's Office have discovered and prevented about 200 violations of
the electoral law, against which 45 objections have been brought and 31
warnings, 81 orders and 35 statements have been made. The violations
committed in the run-up to the elections can be described as follows: in
the inital stages of the election campaign, violations were committed when
electoral commissions were set up, as they were made up of candidates'
close relatives or of persons who were directly subordinate to candidates
or of officials of state power and local self-governments, which runs
counter [word indistinct] Article 16 [on the status of members of the
election commission] of the Code on Elections.

Source: Kyrgyz Radio first programme, Bishkek, in Russian 1400 gmt 10 Feb 00
BBC Mon CAU 100200/** VA/MK