Tag Archives: election

Georgian news anchor quits to run for mayor

JUNE 24 2017 (The Bulletin) — The charismatic and well-known Georgian TV news reader Zaal Udumashvili said that he was going to run in an election to be the mayor of Tbilisi for the United National Movement party. Mr Udumashvili’s announcement will give the beleaguered party of former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili a boost. He had worked for Rustavi-2, a TV station that is the subject for a battle for control between its current UNM support- ing owners and a businessman with links to the ruling Georgian Dream coalition.

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(News report from Issue No. 334, published on June 26 2017)

Kyrgyz MPs curtail vote monitors

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BISHKEK, MAY 31 2017 (The Bulletin) — With less than five months to go before a presidential election Kyrgyzstan’s parliament voted to impose restrictions on election observers.

NGOs and democracy activists immediately criticised amendments to the election laws as authoritarian but its proponents said it was a necessary step to improve and streamline the voting process.

The row focused on the scrapping of two paragraphs from the election code which had stated that election monitors had the right to move around polling stations and flag up potential violations.

Dinara Oshurahunova, who works at the Kyrgyz NGO Coalition for Democracy and Civil Society said monitors needed to move around during voting to operate effectively.

“There are nearly 2,300 polling stations, and usually we are able to send 500 to 600 independent observers, and public observers,” she told The Bulletin’s Bishkek correspondent.

“They have to cover more than one station in a day.”

Western election monitors have often held up Kyrgyzstan as an example of democracy in former Soviet Central Asia, but supporters of the election law changes said monitors needed to be restricted because they were often funded by foreign governments and there was a risk they would influence elections.

Kyrgyz vote on Oct. 15 in a presidential election that promises to be a tightly fought affair. President Almazbek Atambayev is stepping down after a single term in office, as stipulated by the constitution. His Social Democratic Party has put up PM Sooronbay Jeenbekov to be its candidate. He will face at least two other former PMs in the vote.

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(News report from Issue No. 331, published on June 5 2017)

Kyrgyz PM to run for presidency

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BISHKEK, MAY 18 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The ruling Social Democratic party picked current PM Sooronbai Jeenbekov to be its candidate in a presidential election in Kyrgyzstan later this year, a decision that an analyst said confirmed the government’s pro-Russia bent.

Parliament also voted to move forward the presidential election date to Oct. 15 from Nov. 19.

A Central Asian political analyst said that the appointment of Mr Jeenbekov as the Social Democrat’s candidate showed that the party was increasingly in hoc to the Kremlin.

“He’s considered soft on Russia,” the analyst said, asking not to be named. “The Social Democrats nearly appointed a pro-Western candidate but it looks like the Kremlin intervened and they have now gone for Russia’s man.”

Rumors prior to Mr Jeenbekov being given the candidature had suggested that President Almazbek Atambayev’s chief of staff, Sapar Issakov, would be the likely candidate. He is considered pro-Western.

Mr Atambayev is stepping down after a single term in office, as stipulated by the constitution.

His detractors, though have said that he may be lining himself up to become PM at an election scheduled for next year. The Kyrgyz constitution is being changed to shift power from the president to the PM’s office.

As the Social Democrats’ candidate, Mr Jeenbekov is now the front- runner to succeed Mr Atambayev.

But it’s likely to be a competitive and tightly-fought election, and not a foregone conclusion, in what is considered Central Asia’s most vibrant democracy. Former PMs Temir Sariyev and Omurbek Babanov have also said that they will compete in the election.

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(News report from Issue No. 329, published on May 20 2017)

Armenia’s Republican party wins the election

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YEREVAN, APRIL 8 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Republican Party of President Serzh Sargsyan was confirmed as the winner of a parliamentary election in Armenia on April 2.

Armenia’s Central Election Commission said the Republican party had won just under 50% of the vote (55 seats), the generally pro-government Tsarukyan Alliance won 27% of the vote (30 seats), the opposition Way Out Alliance nearly 8% (9 seats) and the pro-government Armenian Revolutionary Federation 6.6% (7 seats).

No other political bloc passed the 7% threshold to win seats or the 5% threshold needed to be breached by an individual political party in an election that was marked by alleged vote buying. There were no reports of the protests that had been expected.

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(News report from Issue No. 324, published on April 13 2017)

Republican Party easily wins Armenian parliamentary election

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YEREVAN, APRIL 2/3 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenia’s ruling Republican Party won a parliamentary election that will shape the country’s politics for years to come, although its opponents complained of vote- rigging and monitors said that there had been irregularities.

Victory for the Republican Party, though, didn’t trigger the outpouring of frustration and resentment that some had predicted and a Conway Bulletin correspondent in the capital said it was calmer now than in any previous election over the past few years. In 2008, protests dragged on until clashes between demonstrators and soldiers killed at least 11 people.

Much of the Republican Party support came from people unwilling to take a risk with the opposition.

“I had to vote for Republicans as I am a teacher which means I work for the state and I am paid from state and this is kind of a payback,” said a Yerevan-based teacher after voting.

Only four groups won enough votes to enter parliament which will wield more power after a change to the constitution that shifts power from the president to parliament.

President Serzh Sargsyan’s Republican Party won 49% of the vote and will hold 55 seats of the 105-seat parliament. The Tsarukyan alliance led by oligarch Gagik Tsarukyan, generally considered to be sympathetic to the government, won 27% of the vote and will have 30 MPs. For the opposition, the Yelk (Way Out) bloc won 7% of the vote and Armenia’s Revolutionary Foundation party won 6%.

The assessment of the OSCE’s election monitoring unit, ODHIR, though, was less than flattering.

The elections were “tainted by credible information about vote-buy- ing, and pressure on civil servants and employees of private companies,” it said in a report.

The Conway Bulletin spoke to one person happy to take money in exchange for their vote.

“I wasn’t going to go at all, but my neighbour learned that they were buying votes,” said a 32-year-old man in Yerevan. “They paid 10,000 dram ($20.66) per person and explained how to vote.”

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(News report from Issue No. 323, published on April 6 2017)

Comment: Armenia is facing its most important election, says Bagdasaryan

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MARCH 27 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The April 2 parliamentary elections will define Armenia’s politics for the next five years, starting with the transformation from semi-presidential government to parliamentary republic even though this shift is not fully understood by the majority of society.

Armenia’s ruling Republican party is playing on society’s lack of understanding of the changes to try to retain a majority in parliament. But this is not a promising election for Republicans and for party leader, President Serzh Sargsyan.

The ruling party’s rating reached a historical low after years of economic stagnation, and accusations that corrupt officials were to blame for losses in a breakdown of a ceasefire with Azerbaijan around the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh in April last year. When 20 gunmen stormed a police station in Yerevan a few months later and took nine policemen hostage for two weeks, the violent action was not condemned by the public. Instead they were welcomed.

This seizure of the police station was used by the government as a trigger for reforms. The government changed some of the less-liked faces and Sargsyan invited former Yerevan mayor and Gazprom official Karen Karapetyan back from Moscow to become prime minister. Karapetyan promised to improve the government, root out corruption, improve the business environment and invest into the economy. His style of management was widely supported by the media and was positively greeted.

Karapetyan and his small team now lead Republicans’ election campaign, while the President, and party chairman, Serzh Sargsyan keeps himself in the shadows. Karapetyan’s popularity endures but there is still a job to do to win the election and that is where the Republican Party’s strategy comes into play. The Republican Party list of candidates is dominated by business and administrative heavyweights who’ll bring votes to the party.

The opposition fall short in this category. Almost all of them, with the exception of the pseudo-opposition Tsarukyan party, are fighting to enter parliament not through majoritan wins, but by passing the proportional representation threshold (5% for a party or 7% for a bloc).

The new parliament will take part in a power reshape between the president and the prime minister. A smooth election would legitimatise the new Constitution and parliamentary system.

By Eric Bagdasaryan is an independent analyst and executive secretary of Armenian Centre for Social Development and Public Policy

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(News report from Issue No. 322, published on March 27 2017)

OSCE reveals final report on elections in Uzbekistan

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MARCH 22 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — In its final report on the Uzbek presidential elections in December, the OSCE’s ODHIR laid out 24 points where Uzbekistan could improve its electoral system. It said these were aimed at improving the system’s transparency and strengthening the confidence ordinary people have in the process, as well as stopping fraud and ensuring there is genuine competition. The election was the first that ODHIR, the OSCE’s election monitoring unit, had observed in Uzbekistan. Its broad assessment was that the process had been flawed.

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(News report from Issue No. 322, published on March 27 2017)

ODIHR chief flies to Uzbekistan

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MARCH 16 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Michael Georg, head of the OSCE’s election monitoring unit ODIHR, travelled to Tashkent for a meeting with the Uzbek foreign ministry on its findings from its election monitoring mission in December. The meeting is likely to precede a final election monitoring report from ODIHR. The elections last December were the first time that ODIHR had monitored an election in Uzbekistan.

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(News report from Issue No. 321, published on March 20 2017)

Kyrgyz officials charge ex-prosecutor with abuse of office

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MARCH 13 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Prosecutors in Kyrgyzstan are investigating Aida Salyanova, a former Prosecutor-General and now an opposition MP, with abuse of office. Her supporters have said that the charges are fabricated and an extension of the crackdown on the opposition party Ata-Meken. Kyrgyzstan is holding a presidential election this year. Ahead of it, tensions are running high.

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(News report from Issue No. 321, published on March 20 2017)

Election campaign begins in Armenia

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MARCH 5 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenia officially began campaigning for a parliamentary election set for April 2. There are five political parties and four blocs competing in the election which is being held under new rules. It is also the first parliamentary election held under a new constitution that shifts some power from the president to the parliament.

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(News report from Issue No. 320, published on March 13 2017)