SCO mission recognizes elections in Kyrgyzstan as open, free and democratic

The observer mission of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization recognized the elections in Kyrgyzstan as open, free and democratic. This was announced today at a press conference by its head, SCO Secretary General Rashid Alimov.

According to him, the presidential elections in Kyrgyzstan met the requirements of the country’s electoral legislation and international obligations. The mission registered no violations of the national legislation that could cast doubt on the legitimacy of the elections.

SCO observers worked in five regions of Kyrgyzstan out of seven. They conducted monitoring at 189 polling stations in Bishkek, Osh, Kant, Kara-Balta, Cholpon-Ata and settlements of Issyk-Kul, Naryn and Jalal-Abad regions. The monitoring was conducted from October 10 to 15.

«The invitation of international observers by CEC is regarded as a desire to ensure openness and transparency of the electoral process. We started the work in advance that allowed us to analyze the legislation. We respectfully note the changes that have been made in the legislation over the past two — three years. They have strengthened the legal framework for ensuring the free expression of the will of voters,» Rashid Alimov said.

«Equal conditions for fair competition have been provided during the election campaign. We do not assess how hard it was, how polar the opinions were. But everyone had the opportunity to speak. It is important that work has been done to deliver automatic reading devices to hard-to-reach high-mountain areas, mechanisms for transferring voting data online have been introduced,» he concluded.