The referendum media campaign is gung-ho in northern Kyrgyzstan. Throughout the region, state officials are sticking fliers in doors: “Voting is your right and duty." Billboards in the North, and in violence-plagued Osh, urge voters to participate on June 27, when the beleaguered interim government hopes to legitimize its rule.
Many in the northern province of Chui support holding the referendum. One woman in Chong-Kemin said that she was encouraging all members of her cooperative to convince at least five people each to vote.
The referendum is being equated to “stability.” Since the April 7 ousting of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, Kyrgyzstan has been beset by political and economic uncertainty.
Legitimizing the new constitution, paving the way for parliamentary elections, and confirming a head of state: for many this spells the best possible future for Kyrgyzstan. Yet, holding the referendum for a constitution drafted in a hurry is no guarantee and many fear the process will lead to further unrest.
In the South, some have promised to block the vote. They point to two factors undermining its legitimacy: hundreds of thousands have been displaced by the violence; too many others are scared to come out of their homes.
Humanitarian aid ready for shipment from Bishkek's Ala-Too Square.
In the past few days, many Bishkek residents have organized humanitarian relief packages to send to those affected by the violence in Osh and Jalal-Abad provinces. News of drop sites has spread quickly by word of mouth and through social networking sites. Today, I was handed a flyer that read:
“People of Kyrgyzstan – unite! Join the action ‘From hand to hand’ to provide humanitarian aid and collect items for the population of southern Kyrgyzstan. Aid collection – everyday on Ala-Too Square, from 9am.”
On June 14, the "April 7" youth movement, which is organizing the aid drop, had collected a growing pile of flour, pasta and medicine from city residents and group members.
Iskander Koichumanov, an April 7 member helping organize the collection, explained that the group is a network of around 25,000 students. It does not have any political aims, but was created to promote “development and stability in the country,” he said. When we spoke, he was helping arrange a truck to deliver the food and medicine to April 7 members in the South, who would distribute the packages to those in greatest need.
In humanitarian situations, however, relief aid is notoriously difficult to coordinate.
The April 7 members say they are operating independently of other groups that are also providing aid. In such situations, urgency often strains cooperation, particularly when a group feels that it can obtain the resources to mobilize aid on its own. Yet, multiple groups operating in the same space with no coordination mechanism can lead to further problems, experts say.
Energy issues, specifically major price hikes for utilities, proved the undoing of Kurmanbek Bakiyev’s administration in Kyrgyzstan. The provisional government now in power in Bishkek has to take care to avoid the same pitfall.
