Text of report by the Kyrgyz newspaper 'Vecherniy Bishkek'

"Vecherniy Bishkek" newspaper 13th March, page 14.
A parliament, which we have elected for five years...

Despite a pessimistic forecast that there will be much lesser turnout in the
second round of voting [for Kyrgyz parliamentary elections] than in the
first round, if to believe the Shayloo system, 70 per cent of voters came
to the polling stations yesterday in order to fulfill their civic duties.
Only three per cent less than on 20th February [in the first round of the
elections].

The news of the day is that there is not a single (!) representative of the
so called tough opposition in the new parliament.

It is quite clear that public interest was riveted first of all on
Kara-Bura, Togolok-Moldo and Issyk-Kul constituencies where the brightest
opponents of the existing authorities - Feliks Kulov, Daniyar Usenov,
Omurbek Suvanaliyev run in the elections. The latter two, as is known, did
not reach the second round - both of them were deprived of registration by
the Themis. As regards the leaders of the Ar-Namys Party, nominated and
confidently won in the first round of the elections in Talas Region
[north-western Kyrgyzstan], we will dwell on this in detail. Thus, a brief
chronicle of the last three days. The deputy chairman of the Central
Electoral Commission [CEC], Mr Abduvaliyev, held a meeting of electoral
commissions of all constituencies and districts on 10th March in Kara-Bura.
It was decided to allow only one observer and one proxy to represent F.
Kulov to each polling station on voting day.

The same day, ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the USA to
Kyrgyzstan, Anne-Mary Sigmund, took an unprecedented decision to leave
personally for Kara-Bura constituency to observe the election process.
An official representative of the US Independent Democratic Institute, Mr
Scot (?Kirin) left for Kara-Bura together with the ambassador on 11th
March.

12th March, "wonders" start from the very morning. Polling station No.6001
[as given], the number of the registered voters is 400 (they were slightly
over 200 on 20th February - Author). The information by the CEC about the
voting process by 0900 [local time - 0400 gmt], by the way, taken from the
Internet: "4,575 voters have cast their votes, polling station 6001 -
4,575" Comment is, so to speak, superfluous.

On the night from 12th to 13th March, emotions rose in Kara-Bura District.
According to the information provided by the headquarters of Kulov,
following the vote counting, approximately at 2200 hours [1700 gmt]
spontaneous rallies started in the villages of Kok-Say, Bakyyan,
Amanbayevo, Chon-Kara-Bura and 1st May. People voiced their disagreement
with the results of the elections, according to which the head of Talas
Regional Department of Internal Affairs Ministry, A. Sultanov, Kulov's
opponent, started to show a convincing victory.

A moldo [in Kyrgyz- religious leader] of one of the villages of Bakay-Ata
District (we wrote his full name and address and checked - the informtion
was confirmed) phoned the editorial office in the morning and said: in the
run up to the elections two officers of the Ministry of National Security
had summoned him late in the evening and insistently asked to write a
statement of claim that Kulov was buying votes. According to reports at
0700 this morning [0200 gmt], Sultanov won 54 percent of votes and Kulov 41
per cent.

The deputies of the Legislative Assembly [standing chamber] and the Assembly
of People's Representatives [non standing chamber] of the new staff of the
Supreme Council [Parliament] - E. Matyyev, K. [Kubatbek] Baybolov, A.
[Alevtina] Pronenko, A. Loboda, K. Karabekov, O. [Omurbek] Tekebayev, D.
[Dooronbek] Sadyrbayev, A. Maliyev, I. [Ishenbay] Kadyrbekov, A [Absamat].
Masaliyev, Tursunbay Bakir Uulu, A. [Altay] Borubayev, K. [Kanybek]
Imanaliyev, A. Atambayev, M. Mukashev, L. Vasilyev, V. [Valeriy] Dil and A.
Savitskiy raised their champagne glasses last night. We underline, that we
have listed the most well-known people. Final results will be summed up in
the next few days. Those, who were defeated, will undoubtedly be
questioning the victory of their opponents in courts. So, it is still early
to close the chapter. [All names as received]
A. Otorbayeva.

P.S. When this issue was being compiled into pages, it became clear that
Feliks Kulov had filed a suit with Kara-Bura District court today - to
recognize the results of the votings in the second round invalid and about
gross violations during the elections. Who is next?
 
 
Source: 'Vecherniy Bishkek', Bishkek, in Russian 13 Mar 00 p14
BBC Mon CAU 130300/** AJBA/QU