By IPS Correspondents
BISHKEK, Feb 6 1995 (IPS)

Kyrgyzstan’s four million people Monday remained in the dark about the outcome of weekend elections to a reformed parliament in the mountainous Central Asian republic.

With the large number of candidates who took part in Sunday’s vote and much confusion over how the new parliamentary system should work, a clear result in the majority of seats will have to wait until a second round of elections is held on Feb. 19.

Preliminary results announced on Monday indicated that the winners were known only 13 of the 105 seats being contested. Final results are not expected before Feb. 15.

Of the more than 1,000 candidates contesting seats, less than 20 per cent belong to the 12 registered political parties. The rest were nominated by various social or work associations, or stood as independents.

Political parties are in their infancy in Kyrgyzstan and voters chose candidates more on the basis of personal relations, family, regional or clan ties, rather than any specific political platform.

The Soviet practice of family voting, by which a voter was allowed to vote for other members of his family by presenting his passport was however officially forbidden for the first time in this former Soviet republic.

“In general, most citizens cast their own votes, and this is a sign of change,” said Markil Ibrayev, Chairman of the Central Electoral Commission.

Ninety seats will have to be recontested in a second round of voting which is necessary because of the high number of candidates. While an average of about ten candidates ran for each seat, some were contested by more than 20 candidates. To be declared a winner of a seat, a candidate would have to win more than 50 per cent of the votes cast.

In the second round of voting, the contest will be between two or three candidates who secured the highest amount of votes in the first round poll.

The elections were officially monitored by about 50 foreign observers, mainly representatives of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), formerly the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE).

Ibrayev told journalists in the capital Bishkek, that the commission had received several complaints of irregularities and that these would be examined.

Overall turn-out was just under 73 per cent, according to the preliminary results, he added.

The new parliament of 105 seats is to be divided into two chambers — a full-time legislative chamber of 35 deputies and a 70-member Assembly of People’s Representatives which will meet only a few times a year.

The previous parliament, whose structure dates from Soviet times, had 350 members. “Our republic is so small, it is not necessary to have 350 deputies,” said Kamyl Bayalinov, the president’s press secretary.

Critics of President Askar Akayev however say he wants a smaller, two-chamber parliament because it will be easier for him to control. They argue that though Akayev, a former mathematics professor is genuinely popular, his political reforms are aimed at consolidating too much power in his own hands.

And as is the case in other former Soviet republics, many people fear that economic reforms to create a market economy are simply enriching a small coterie of rich businessmen while plunging the poor majority into greater poverty.

“We admit that the president is concentrating responsibilities and duties in his own hands, but people here support him,” said Viktor Stefanov, a Russian who currently chairman of one of the town councils.

Of the criticisms, Bayalinov retorts: “The new parliament will be as powerful as the previous one — but as weak intellectually.”

The press secretary’s evident scorn for the people’s representatives is in fact a view shared by many people in Kyrgyzstan.

Zamira Sydykova, editor of the Bishkek newspaper “Res Publika” which often criticises the government, ran as a parliamentary candidate, but acknowledged that most people in the republic have little interest or faith in the political system to improve economic difficulties.

“I meet people who say ‘Why do you bother? Why go to parliament? It will change nothing’,” Sydykova said.

“Frankly, we don’t understand the new system,” said one man who preferred not to give his name, emerging from a Bishkek polling booth on Sunday. “We don’t even know what the two chambers mean.”

Indeed, even the politicians are uncertain about their prospective roles in the new chambers since their respective powers and functions remain undecided.

The fact that voters have been asked to elect political leaders whose functions are yet to be decided, is perhaps the most glaring evidence that though Bishkek may be well-meaning about introducing democracy, the republic is really still groping its way towards a system of government with which its people are comfortable.

Excerpt: