Kygryz Election Fraud

As this article clearly shows when U.S. interests might be threatened by contesting the legitimacy of an election the free press in the west observes almost total silence or a the most the news will be hidden on the back pages of newspapers. As this article notes it is rather ironic that the Kyrgyz incumbent received a whopping 85 per cent of the vote far more than Ahmadinejad and monitors claimed there were many irregularities but this elicits no complaints! As with the treatment of women in Saudi Arabia criticism is restrained because U.S. interests might suffer as a result of criticism. In the case of Kyrgistan the squeaky wheel not only got the increase in larger lease payments for a U.S. base but also was allowed to steal an election it would seem.

Kyrgyz Election Fraud Widespread Say Monitors
July 24, 2009, Matthew Good
At what point does one jump on the bandwagon with regards to rigged elections? Everything on the web went green after the fraudulent Iranian election in June, with many world leaders skeptical at the outcome and outraged at how protesters were being treated by Iranian authorities. Then again, Iran’s a rather easy target being that very few have interests at stake – such as, for example, leased air bases.

I mention this because, unlike the Iranian election in which Ahmadinejad supposedly received 66% of the vote, the presidential election in Kyrgyzstan has seen the incumbent, President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, receive 85% of the vote despite the fact that international monitors have claimed there were widespread irregularities. According to the opponents of Mr. Bakiyev, those irregularities include ballot stuffing and the intimidation of monitors. Yet, unlike Iran, wading into Kyrgyz politics isn’t in the best interest of, for example, the United States, being that it just secured an agreement with its government to extend the lease of the Manas Air Base, which, in February, the Kyrgyz Parliament voted to close down. In late June an agreement was reached in which the United States would pay an increased annual fee of $60 million dollars, triple the previous cost, as well as provide various aid incentives.