Vote-Buying and Voter Preferences in Kyrgyzstan

Abstract

Despite the reports revealing wide allegations of vote-buying, there is an existing gap in qualitative research of such practice in Kyrgyzstan. Some reports of observation missions, surveys, human rights activists, and rare cases of criminal prosecution of convicted vote buyers, reflect little on their motives and underlying causes of it. I intend this research to fill this gap through in-depth interviews with votesellers. The study will focus on both the reasons that pushed voters to sell their votes and the reasons lying behind the certain electoral behavior after the sale. The analysis revealed that the main reason for participation in vote-buying was a negative attitude towards political actors, strengthened by distrust in the value of a vote. Other major findings of the study shed light on the influence of public and normative discourses, and vote-buying strategies on electoral behavior of vote-sellers. Finally, the study reveals the attitude of vote-sellers towards vote-buying practice and their participation in it.