A Central Election Committee official confirmed at a meeting with representatives of political parties, women’s movements, and government officials that in accordance with the Election Code of 2007 all voters will have to return to their place of registration to be able to vote in the October 10 parliamentary elections.
Earlier this summer, following deadly ethnic clashes in the south of Kyrgyzstan that resulted in thousands of people fleeing their homes, the Kyrgyz interim government introduced election law amendments allowing people to vote at their places of temporary residence. However, the mounting criticism that these amendments might lead to widespread election fraud have forced the government to cancel these amendments.
For at least two large groups of Kyrgyz citizens – internally displaced people and Kyrgyz labor migrants – their ability to participate in the elections will be negatively affected by this requirement.
As of mid-July, some 75,000 people remained displaced within Kyrgyzstan. Unless the caretaker government manages to create necessary conditions to ensure safe return of all IDPs to their communities by October 10, thousands of people will be unable to cast their votes.
No reliable data exists on the exact number of Kyrgyz migrant workers, due to how many work overseas illegally, but according to Nurdin Tynaev, director of the Center for Employment at the Ministry of Labor, Employment and Migration, approximately 350,000 labor migrants leave the country annually. These labor migrants, whose incomes make a vital contribution to their household budgets, are unlikely to return to the homeland to participate in the fall elections.
Speaking at conference on labor migration in Bishkek, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official encouraged Kyrgyz diasporas abroad to start drafting voting lists and forming local election commissions to be staffed by labor migrants. However, it is not clear how Kyrgyz citizens working abroad will be able to overcome the residence clause.
