Censorship and self-censorship help president’s reelection

Harassment of the news media throughout the Kyrgyz presidential election campaign prevented them from providing independent coverage, Reporters Without Borders said today. According to the official figures, President Kurmanbek Bakiyev (photo AFP) won the 23 July election with 76 per cent of the vote, while the leading opposition candidate, Almazbek Atambayev, got only 8 per cent. Both Atambayev and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe say there was “massive fraud.” Atambayev has called on his supporters to stage protests. “How could the 2.3 million Kyrgyz voters exercise their democratic right properly without independent and impartial information?” Reporters Without Borders asked. “News media that tried to cover the activities of opposition candidates were accused by the Central Elections Commission (CEC) of providing them with publicity. As a result, Bakiyev grabbed all the media space in his dual capacity as president and candidate.” Radmila Shekerinska, the head of the OSCE electoral monitoring mission, said: “Kurmanbek Bakiyev had an unfair advantage due to the government resources available to him for manipulating news coverage and due to the media bias in his favour during the campaign. The lack of information significantly distorted these elections.” The opposition has condemned the harassment of the media during the campaign. A total of 550 international observers and 135 foreign journalists were in the country on the day of the election, in which there were six candidates. No incidents were reported but the CEC took a long time to issue its results. The Kyrgyz media that provided the most election campaign coverage were the pro-government TV stations Kanal 1 and Kanal 5. Three other TV stations that are more critical of the government suspended operations at the end of June, reporting that they were taking a “summer break.” Prior to the elections, the government created a special “secretariat” to work with the media and civil society. Without giving a valid reason, this “secretariat” fired several experienced editors including Tamara Slascheva of the daily Slovo-Kyrgyzstana. Bakiyev has constantly imposed his authority at the expense of fundamental freedoms ever since being brought to power by the “Tulip Revolution” in March 2005. A June 2008 law reinforced his control over the media. Six journalists have been physically attacked in Kyrgyzstan since the start of the year. In most cases, local police were responsible. Kyrgyzstan was ranked 111th out of 173 countries in the 2008 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index.