Election Day

Well, I want to start by apologizing for the previous entry. Some of you may have noticed that I was a little annoyed by the whole election process. Democracy is a process that every country must find its way through to fruition. I guess I just wish they could do it a little quieter.

Election Day has come and gone. While I don’t have the results, I can tell you that Election Day is like a holiday over here. Everybody has guests over to talk about what and who they saw, family members come from remote villages in order to cast their votes, and the whole village comes to life. So, what did I do on Election Day? Well, I stayed home and helped my Peace Corps buddy Erin make cookies. Peace Corps told us several times that going out was not a good idea from a Safety and Security standpoint and that we should avoid being anywhere near an event that might makes us appear to be taking a political stance of any kind. Thus, we made snickerdoodles!

The remainder was written several weeks later once results were known.

It appears that the President’s party, Ak Jol, was the big winner of the election, almost taking a majority of seats by itself. Turan and SDRP both took significant pieces as well. The big surprise, however, was that the Ata Meken party did not receive the required 10% of the vote in the Batken Oblast and thus failed to get representation in Parliament.