20000217

2000 foreign

observers to

monitor Kyrgyzstan

elections

MOSCOW: At least 2,000 foreign observers have been registered to monitor Kyrgyzstan's parliamentary elections on February 20, Electoral Committee Chairman Suleyman Imanbayev said on Wednesday.

"There will be 5,000 observers in total, 168 of whom will be OSCE (Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe) representatives, from Europe and the United States," Imanbayev was quoted by the ITAR-TASS news agency as saying.

"We consider the presence of foreign observers as their effort to help us to achieve open, fair and democratic elections" he added.

"If some members of the electoral commission hamper the work of the observers, they will be punished most severely."

Western criticism of the electoral campaign has been steadily rising, with the publication last week of a US watchdog report charging that the campaign had failed to live up to even minimum levels of democracy.

"Kyrgyzstan's elections will not be able to correspond to minimal international standards for conducting democratic elections," the National Democratic Institute of International Relations said.

Meanwhile, US Vice President Al Gore sent a letter to Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev expressing his concern about the arrest of some candidates.

Daniyar Usenov, a Kyrgyz opposition leader was arrested last month over an alleged brawl with customs officials which took place in June 1996 at Bishkek airport.

Usenov accused the government of arresting him to keep him out of the race.

Kyrgyz authorities have also banned 12 political parties from participating, saying the parties had missed their deadline.

The election is the first time the Central Asian republic has allowed parties to compete for 15 of the 105 places in parliament on the basis of proportional representation.ÑAFP