When I first moved here I was under the impression that Kyrgyzstan was a democracy. A very flawed democracy, but a struggling democracy nonetheless, with a relatively active civil society and relatively free press (relative to the world-class dictatorships flanking the country on all sides: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, China, Turkmenistan and Russia) I have been disabused of this notion after this weekend. Now it's official: the stunningly corrupt and self-serving leadership of this country, led by "Big Bucks" Bakiev, is determined to come out of the closet of feigned democracy and openly declare its identity as an unashamed autocratic regime like all its neighbors.On October 21, according to the Kyrgyz government, the citizens of Kyrgyzstan flooded polling stations across the country to vote on a referendum deciding the fate of the national constitution. Over 80% of the electorate, well past the 50% threshhold needed to validate the vote, went to the polls that soggy autumn day to decide whether to accept a new constitution, drafted in secret by a Presidential committee, which is widely considered to give the president even greater control over judiciary, parliament, and other key positions in the ministries. And the masses of civic-minded voters, frothing at the chance to exercise their democratic right to choose the fate of their resource-poor, inflation-battered country, overwhelmingly (76%) chose to adopt President Bakiev's constitution. The people have spoken, and the last flicker of democracy shines on in Central Asia!
Or, not really. For starters, the referendum was announced just one month before the voting day (international standards call for a four month warning), so international election monitoring organizations had no time to prepare the voting public and set up election observation teams. The National Democratic Institute team in Bishkek, funded by USAID, did manage to send out observer teams to polling stations, as well as make a last minute public service announcement to inform voters about their rights and responsibilities and about the referendum itself. The powers that be made sure this did not get aired. NDI's observer teams did get to the polls, along with local civil society groups and the ever-impartial observation teams from the Commonwealth of Independent States (former Soviet Union states) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (made up of most of the autocracies of Asia). Of course the CIS and SCO teams declared the whole affair 'free and fair' and slapped Bakiev on the back for a sham election well-run.
A friend of mine on the NDI observer team could barely talk about the gross violations he observed, he was so incensed. In-your-face ballot stuffing by election officials was commonplace. When questioned about it by the observers, the polling agents matter-of-factly stated that they had orders from their authorities to make sure a certain number of votes were placed in the boxes, whether they were real or not. Quotas had to be filled! Stories like these have been flying all over town and over the online discussion boards. Men were seen voting once, leaving, changing clothes, and voting again, and again. Independent estimates put the voter the real voter turnout at around 30%.The strangest aspect of this is that they didn't even try to hide their massive-scale deception. Why waste brain-power trying to outfox the public when no one cares anymore? Most stories echo the first one, where polling agents just brought in hundreds of pre-marked ballots and shamelessly stuffed them in the ballot boxes as if the election monitors didn't even matter. And essentially that's the attitude most people have about the whole political process anyway; it doesn't matter. It's all pre-ordained. Democracy is a fable. It's a fantasy clung to by people on other continents, not this one. Just stop the runaway inflation on food prices and let the economy grow so we can keep feeding our families. Just leave us out of these dirty politics and let us work.
To it's credit, even the typically spineless U.S. Embassy in Kyrgyzstan issued a damning statement on the referendum urging the Kyrgyz Government to get it's act together for the upcoming Parliamentary elections in December, which were called for the day after the referendum. Bakiev dismissed Parliament on October 22 using a clause in the old constitution that remained in force at the time. Parliament members were given three days to pack up their stuff, fill up their flash drives and get out of their offices in the Jogorku Kenesh before the secret service locks it down completely.
Anyway, the U.S. Government always has to walk a tightrope here because of the presence of the airbase, the only rear-supply base in the region that supports operations in Afghanistan. Besides Kyrgyzstan, there is nowhere else to put the base, and the Kyrgyz use that to their fullest advantage, jacking the annual 'rent' for the base up from $2 million to $150 million dollars last summer. Now that's inflation for ya. Word has it the Kyrgyz suddenly want to renegotiate again before the ink on the last deal has even dried. Welcome to Central Asia.
So is there hope that the new party list system called for in the constitution will bring about a more balanced and effective Parliament? Not likely. It copies the Kazakhstan model very closely, which is exactly what Bakiev wants. He is Kazakh President Nazarbaev's 'mini-me,' and he would love nothing more than to turn Kyrgyzstan into a tightly controlled fiefdom like Uncle Nazzy has with Kazakhstan. Essentially that's what Bakiev has done already with alarming efficiency, much faster and smarter than ousted President Akayev ever did in his 15 years in power.
So the pincher grip on politics tightens, and soon the already endangered press freedoms in this country will be crushed, as well as any real dissent or opposition movement. Maybe it's good for Kyrgyzstan. Maybe the people are right, stability takes primacy over everything else. Look at the Russians (who many Kyrgyz would like to re-confederate with), look at the Kazakhs (who are practically buying up the whole country anyway), look at the Chinese. Their 'unique' paths to development have nothing to do with democracy, and they're doin' just dandy. Does freedom matter, when your whole family is relying on you to feed 'em? I guess we'll find out here as the last flicker democracy in Central Asia gets snuffed out. Matches anyone? Spichki?
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