Voters may be charged with $56 fine for abstention from presidential elections in Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan’s authorities want to impose a $56 fine on citizens for abstaining from presidential and parliamentary elections, the 24.kg website reported.
What happened? Tazabek Ikramov, a member of the Kyrgyz parliament, proposed to make participation in presidential and parliamentary elections compulsory for voters in Kyrgyzstan. The only exception would be for those who have reasonable excuses.
«If every citizen fulfills his obligations and participates in elections, it will be impossible to buy the votes of the entire population and elections would be fair,» Azattyk reported, citing Ikramov.
How did the country’s central election committee react? One member of the Central Election Committee Tynchtyk Shainazarov has supported the initiative. He pointed out that many voters are used to ignoring elections, and if election turnout reaches 80% to 90%, it will have a positive impact on the government and the parliament itself.
How did the cabinet react? The country’s Cabinet of Ministers opposed the initiative. According to Deputy Minister of Justice Zarema Askarova, voting is a right, not an obligation, the Kaktus.kg website reported.
«No one has the right to push citizens with the aim of forcing them to participate or not participate in elections or tell them how to vote,» she said.
Representatives of the Kyrgyz Ombudsman and the General Prosecutor’s Office have expressed similar opinions.
What was the final decision? MP Ikramov criticized the cabinet for its remarks.
«Have you ever seen the cabinet support such initiatives? No. They always oppose them,» he stated.
Ikramov noted that a fine is an optional condition and this provision can be changed during the consideration of the bill in the second reading.
Meanwhile, the parliament has approved the draft law.
The context. In January 2021, presidential elections were held in Kyrgyzstan and Sadyr Japarov was elected the new president of the country. At the time, the voting turnout was just 39.75%. According to Akylbek Sariev, a member of the Central Election Committee, that was the lowest election turnout in the country’s history. For comparison, during the presidential elections in 2017, when former president Sooronbay Jeenbekov was elected, the turnout was 56.32%. In 2011, during the presidential election of Almazbek Atambayev, the turnout was 61.3%.
In September, Sharapatkan Mazhitova, a member of the Kyrgyz parliament, proposed the prohibition of wearing headscarves and niqabs in public. However, the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Kyrgyzstan strongly opposed the initiative.
