Russian Media on Elections

An interesting perspective on the crackdown of numerous Kyrgyz websites is offered by 'Russland.Ru' (A German-speaking internet portal based in Russia):

"The websites of leading [Kyrgyz] news agencies were victim of a (DoS) hacker attack. This has been announced by the state news agency Kaber during a press conference. (...) According to experts, this can be blamed on foreign hackers, aiming at blocking the access to information during the elections in Kyrgyzstan."

I wonder where these 'foreign hackers' sit, and which websites they mean. As for 'gazeta.kg' et al:

"All the very important and indispensable web sites have been closed today," Otunbaeva said. "For instance, the 'Eurasia,' 'Central Asia,' and 'gazeta.kg' web sites." - reports RFE/RL

Another interesting report comes from the Russian news and information agency 'Novosti', boldly headed: "Kyrgyz citizens support ruling parties":

"Kyrgyz citizens have supported the ruling parties in practically all regions. (...) Alga Kyrgyzstan, which had 25 candidates running, came in first in 22 of 75 constituencies."

German papers on Central Asian elections

And again, the German press is pretty up-to-date.

- The 'Financial Times Germany' has a good feature on both Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan:
“Polls overshadowed by criticism (…); ‘There is no hope for democratic elections anymore, said a spokesman of the Islamic Rennaissance Party in Tajikistan.’ (…) [As for Kyrgyzstan], it is widely held that the authorities will present the public a widely unknown individual from the security service to succeed Akayev’”

- The German ‘Die Welt’ has a similar thread:
“This successor could be modelled similar to Putin’s rise to presidency.”

- The Swiss ‘news.ch’ service speaks of a “‘climate of intimidation in Kyrgyzstan’ (…) According to statements from the CEC, voter turnout is not likely to exceed 50 percent’”

All of the reports are rather sullen. Let’s see what the Monday papers say.

See the extended entry for yesterday's German news stories.

- The Saturday print edition of Austria’s ‘Kurier’ has an upbeat report:
“The protests grow on a daily basis in Bishkek, and have now reached other cities of the poor mountainous country”

- The left-leaning 'TAZ' has a rather pessimistic outlook:
“Despite protests in the run up to the elections, analysts do not see the administration as being in real danger”

- The Austrian ‘Standard’ reports on growing protests
“Dshaparow called on his followers to vote against all other candidates in their constituencies. ‘My disqualification will cause more trouble for the authorities’, says Dshaparow. ‘They have lost the trust of the people.’

- The ex-communist East-German paper ‘Neues Deutschland’ has a well researched article:
“Interestingly, Russian foreign minster Ivanov did not only welcome Akayev in Moscow, but also ex-prime minister Kurmanbek Bakiev, who will run for presidency in October.”

- The business daily ‘Handelsblatt’ puts the Kyrgyz and the Tajik poll into a wider context:
“Revolutions in the CIS startle Kremlin” .. and “Roses, Tulips, Carnations, all flowers wither” (well, it rhymes in German)

Kyrgyz and Tajik Elections

Make sure to check out RFE/RL for ongoing updates on the elections in both Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.

KYRGYZSTAN:
- Everything is quiet, says the German Press Agency

- Deutsche Welle runs a long report: Good analysis, more to come as DW's correspondent Karen Fischer is on the ground.

- The Austrian press has a wide coverage of events in Kyrgyzstan:
Der Standard: "Akayev lauds high turnout"

The OSCE will hold a press conference on Monday, announcing its preliminary findings and conclusions for the Kyrgyz elections.

Also, Nathan from Registan.Net will have up-to-date info on the progress. Make sure to check his site out. He's also given a brief interview for Thinking-East.

Thinking-East.Net will also publish first-hand accounts during the coming week. There is some heated debate going on following an Email discussion that was published two days ago.

Ben

Back on

After some lengthy period of inactivity, this weblog is back again. We had to fight a series of spam attacks that were eventually forcing the server to its knees. Well, I am still trying to figure out which spam-blocker I am going to use. Until this issue is resolved, there won't be any commenting on this blog. Unfortunately, in the process of cleaning the database, all prior comments had to be deleted.

Stay tuned for Ben Paarmann's & Christopher Schwartz's Weblog.