MOSCOW — The closely watched parliamentary elections in Kyrgyzstan were marred by widespread vote buying, pressure to support pro-government candidates and cases of multiple voting, yet still provided many voters with a "genuine choice," international election observers said Monday.
But with only about a third of the seats having clear-cut winners, the makeup of the new parliament won't be determined until a runoff election March 13, officials said.
The election for 75 seats in the nation's new unicameral parliament is widely seen as a barometer of whether Kyrgyzstan later this year can achieve a peaceful and democratic transition of power after 15 years under President Askar A. Akayev. The 60-year-old head of state is prohibited from seeking another term, although if he wins solid backing in the new parliament he could push through a constitutional amendment that would allow him to run again.
Opposition leaders said prohibitions on candidate registration and media reporting and incidents of government pressure throughout the campaign marred the election even before Sunday's balloting, for which turnout was 61%.
"The entire campaign was accompanied by an outrage of lawlessness which did not stop even on the day of voting: Money and free alcohol were being distributed among voters even on election day," said Roza Otunbayeva, a former Kyrgyz ambassador to the United States who was disqualified after filing to run against the president's daughter, Bermet Akayeva.
Akayeva won twice as many votes as her nearest challenger but did not top the 50% mark needed to avoid the runoff election. Her brother, Aidar Akayev, won handily in his district with 80% of the vote.
Voters in the central district of Kochkor, where two popular candidates were disqualified, succeeded in invalidating the election by casting more than 65% of their ballots against all candidates, and that race will be run anew in the runoff.
Edil Baisalov, chairman of the Coalition for Democracy and Civil Society, said a privately commissioned exit poll in about 10% of the nation's districts largely coincided with official tabulations. But the preelection violations were such that "we cannot call this election honest or fair," he said.
