Transparent elections as basis of country’s welfare

Photo Courtesy: Vald Ushakov, Roman Gainanov

Presidential elections took place 15 October 2017 in the Kyrgyz Republic that supported peaceful transition of power.

16 October the Central Election Commission announced the preliminary results that showed former Prime Minister Sooronbai Jeenbekov received the majority of votes.

Financed by the Government of Japan, Switzerland and Denmark, UNDP in the Kyrgyz Republic has been implementing three electoral projects: “Kyrgyz Republic Election Support Project II (KESP II)” and “Automation of voters identification during electoral cycle 2015-2017” since 2014, and “Project for Supporting the Unified State Population Registry to Establish the E-Government System” since 2017. This projects aimed at assisting the smooth implementation of elections in the Kyrgyz Republic within electoral cycle 2015-2017.

The Government of the Kyrgyz Republic and the Central Election Committee received the electoral equipment including biometric one and the support of training of staff members. The projects have seen the success in the 2015 Parliament Elections and the 2016 Constitutional Referendum that were highly appreciated by national and international observers.

During Presidential Elections, this time 15 October the biometric equipment to identify voters again played a significant role in preventing irregularities and increasing the trust of the polling result from citizens, leading to the report by international observers that there were no serious violations. This is a vital element to ensure to strengthen democracy for the country.

Sonoki Kiuchi, UNDP Project Specialist