Can Anything Be Done When Fraud Is Predictable?
The results are in from the presidential election in Kyrgyzstan: incumbent Kurmanbek Bakiyev has been reelected with an estimated 89 percent of the vote. Wow. 89 percent! That’s some old-school Soviet result. The OSCE has called the election a ‘disappointment‘. The OSCE concluded that “the incumbent gained an unfair advantage over his opponents through the misuse of administrative resources and bias in the media coverage of the campaign.” The assessment cited irregularities that included “ballot-box stuffing, inaccuracies in the voter lists, and multiple voting.” There’s more coverage at RFE/RL. Tolkun Umaraliev has some firsthand coverage and videos at his blog. Why does this matter? We’ve posted some things previously on Kyrgyz corruption and organised crime. There are also increasing concerns about militants fleeing Afghanistan and Pakistan and settling in southern Kyrgyzstan. With the eventual extension of the Manas base deal, Kyrgyzstan continues to play an important role in suppo
