The Parliamentary Elections of Kyrgyz Republic Successfully Held

  Using the Advanced Computerized Election System of the Republic of Korea

The Association of World Election Bodies (A-WEB) announced that the Kyrgyz Republic successfully held Parliamentary elections on October 4, 2015, which elected 120 Duties of the Jogorku Kenesh (Parliament of the Kyrgyz Republic) for a five-year term using the advanced computerized election system developed by the Republic of Korea.

The costs of establishing the computerized election system totaled USD $12.76 million, including USD $6.15 million from the Official Development Assistance (ODA) project of the Korean development agency, the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), USD $6 million from the Kyrgyz Republic, and USD $0.61million from  the Swiss government. The Kyrgyz Republic spent the funds to establish the election information system and to purchase 3,816 Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) equipment (2-3 devices per polling place).

In the past, the Kyrgyz Republic struggled with electoral fraud such as double voting, illegal proxy voting, and manipulation of vote counting. To tackle this problem, the President of the Kyrgyz Republic made a state visit to the Republic of Korea and at a summit requested the establishment of the computerized election system, applying ICT from the Republic of Korea. Accordingly, the requested equipment and technologies were provided to the Kyrgyz Republic.

The computerized election system is composed of two parts; a system to manage election information in a systematic manner and PCOS equipment which reads ballots by scanning and counts the number of votes by candidate. In addition, the system fully secures fairness in counting as it allows the cross-checking of ballots with a manual vote count since the ballots remain unchanged in the PCOS machine. 

The Kyrgyz Republic expressed satisfaction with the computerized election system as during this election it not only allowed swift vote counting, but also ensured complete transparency in election management by fundamentally preventing electoral fraud such as manipulation occurring during manual counting.

The People of the Kyrgyz Republic congratulated this democratic experience and were inspired by the new election. Also, the representative of a civic group called ‘Clean Elections’ expressed gratitude to the election experts from the Republic of Korea who built the system, saying it was a ‘99.9% clean election’. The international election observation mission evaluated that the elections were ‘transparent and fair’. Also, foreign media reported that “the Kyrgyz Republic has become a country which has the most efficient election system in Central Asia, and the election was a turning point in the history of elections through skilled vote management.”

The Kyrgyz Republic, with less than 25-year history of democracy, decisively introduced cutting-edge election management technology from the Republic of Korea. It overcame public distrust in voting and counting, which serves an opportunity for the Kyrgyz Republic to make the step up to a democratic country.  

In addition, this election will be recorded as an exemplary case of the first ever election assistance through which, beyond simple equipment assistance, capacity and experience are also provided, including training for PCOS operating staff, assistance to improve legislation, and education for voters and election relevant officials.

This election assistance is a joint project carried out through the cooperation of A-WEB and KOICA since 2014 and will serve as a momentum to disseminate advanced election management technologies by exporting the computerized election equipment of the Republic of Korea, a leader in ICT. It is expected to contribute to the increase in the exports of small and medium-sized businesses and the creation of employment.

In the elections, 613 international election observers from 69 countries participated and closely inspected the operation of the PCOS equipment. As a result, the transparency of the election results is recognized and trusted by all countries of the world.

Meanwhile, A-WEB is carrying forward a project to assist in building the election management capacity for the 2017 Kenya Presidential election, in Ecuador, as well as the ongoing project in the Kyrgyz Republic. Along with these projects, A-WEB states that it will expand its election management assistance in cooperation with various international organizations for more emerging democracies.

In October 2013, A-WEB was established to realize the value of Democracy to Grow for All Worldwide as well as to improve election systems by assisting in strengthening the capacity of each election organization and in the sharing of election-related knowledge and experience. The National Election Commission of the Republic of Korea (NEC) took the initiative in the process of A-WEB establishment. As of October 2015, 106 organizations from 102 countries have joined A-WEB as members.