Speech
Permanent Council No 546 of the OSCE: EU Statement on the parlamentary elections in the Kyrgyz Republic

Date of Speech : 03-03-2005

Place : Vienna

Speaker : Jacques Reuter, Permanent Representative of Luxembourg at the OSCE

Policy area : General Affairs and External Relations

The European Union takes note of the Preliminary Findings and Conclusions of the International Election Observation Mission (IEOM) deployed by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and the European Parliament for the Parliamentary elections in the Kyrgyz Republic on 27 February 2005. 

The EU regrets that, according to the findings of the IEOM, the elections fell short of OSCE commitments and other international standards for democratic elections in a number of important areas. It is of particular concern that the competitive dynamic was undermined throughout the country by inter alia vote buying, infringements upon fundamental freedoms, including freedom of assembly, de-registration of candidates, interference with independent media and a low level of confidence in electoral and judicial institutions on the part of candidates and voters.

On the other hand, the EU welcomes certain improvements in a number of areas, including the fact that voters were offered a real choice among competing candidates in many constituencies, the introduction of transparency measures at polling stations and publication by the Central Election Commission of polling station results on the Internet the morning after the elections.  The widespread presence of candidate proxies and domestic observers in polling stations on Election Day is also a welcome contribution to increasing the transparency of the election process. Finally, the EU notes with appreciation the good cooperation of the Kyrgyz authorities with the International Election Observation Mission.

Fully acknowledging the progress made towards free and fair elections in accordance with OSCE commitments the EU calls on the Kyrgyz Government to take urgent steps to address these and other concerns highlighted by the IEOM in advance of the second round of the parliamentary elections. We remain committed to continue to assist the Kyrgyz Republic in any efforts to improve the conduct of future elections.

The Candidate Countries Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey and Croatia¹  align themselves with this statement.

¹Croatia continues to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process