Home » Data and Projects » Country Implementations Overview » Kyrgyzstan
Through the support of OSCE, IFES collaborated with the Foundation for Tolerance International (FTI) in Kyrgyzstan to monitor and initiate mitigation strategies for electoral violence surrounding the July presidential election and December local elections in 2005, within the framework of monitoring overall socio-political conflict and tension in the country.
Monitors were trained and deployed throughout Kyrgyzstan to document eyewitness accounts and media reports of electoral violence throughout the election cycle, as well as to monitor and report on other violence and conflicts.
Monitors’ reports were compiled into a weekly bulletin on incidents of violence and analysis of political tension across Kyrgyzstan, which triggered an early intervention mechanism as needed. The bulletin was disseminated to individuals and organizations with an interest in conflict prevention – ranging from civil society organizations, election officials, the media, government officials, and international governmental and non-governmental leaders. To target election-related issues and security, IFES and FTI convened roundtables with key election stakeholders to discuss approaches to mitigation of election violence in the country.
Following the close of the IFES-FTI project, FTI landed funding to continue its Early Warning project to track political conflict and violence and issue its Weekly Bulletin through the end of February 2006. Please visit http://www.fti.org.kg/eng/_op_last_bullet.php for more information on the Early Warning project.
Methodological points for Kyrgyzstan: The monitoring team covered all of Kyrgyzstan, with one or two Coordinators (full-time, supervisory monitors) in each oblast, and two to four part-time Monitors covering one or more rayons within each oblast. Monitors reported on tensions, conflicts, and incidents in the communities in which they worked. The Coordinators assisted in verifying and clarifying this information, which was then relayed to Analysts in the Early Warning Unit headquartered in Bishkek. The Analysts made a final review of the information, edited Incident Forms for eventual entry into the Global Database, and compiled information into narrative form for the Weekly Bulletin issued to stakeholders.
The Incident Form was adapted in Kyrgyzstan to include special Type of Violence categories for Creation of Barricades and Occupation of Buildings – these are coded as Other in the Global Database. The minimum for documenting an incident was two sources (not just two media sources) and location (i.e. polling station, political party office) of the incident.