Adoption of new Constitution of Kyrgyzstan to entail harmonization of legislation on parliamentary elections

AKIPRESS.COM - Adoption of a new Constitution of Kyrgyzstan on April 11 will lead to a big work on harmonization of electoral legislation until parliamentary elections in autumn 2021, Central Election Commission Chair Nurjan Shaildabekova said at the meeting with UN Secretary General's Special Representative for Central Asia, Head of UN Regional Center for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia Natalia Gherman.
Kyrgyzstan is preparing for elections of 28 town and 420 village councils and the referendum on the draft of a new Constitution on April 11, the CEC Chair said.
The 30% quota for women will be realized in these elections. This mechanism is expected to increase women's representation in local councils 4 times.
Natalia Gherman said the society of Kyrgyzstan should consolidate in order to retain the achievements for 30 years of independence.
"Like in any country of the world, local elections are big mobilization. The period between elections should become time for reforms. We do hope that after end of electoral process, the time of reforms will come. UN expresses readiness to support this process at technical and expertise level in review of regulatory framework through prism of enhancement of democratic space, so that the society will feel transparency of decision making process and retained inclusiveness. Voice of women, people with disabilities, youth should be heard. One of priority tasks of the Central Election Commission is ensuring transparent and honest elections," Natalia Gherman said.
"The UN has standards of honest elections. We use them in terms of assistance to all countries. Our project will cover all ongoing processes, including parliamentary elections in October. It is very important that people will understand what political parties are and how they are financed. It is good that the Central Election Commission focuses on civic education and we will provide assistance in this. We will also work to attract other partners at local level," she said.
"The draft of Constitution has two important moments - reduction of seats in Parliament and mechanism of withdrawal of MPs. The order will be defined by the law. The working group was set up comprised of government officials, civil society activists to formulate the mechanism of election of MPs. This work should be done for the short period of time, since the Parliament will work until the end of June. We need to observe all procedures, including public discussions," the Central Election Commission Chair stated.