Okay, I will go with Hash and say, this might be an actual election, although I still expect Zimbabwe style levels of electoral fraud, but at least lots of parties are running - even if they are basically all the same.
http://www.rferl.org/content/kyrgyzstan-elections-unpredictable-democracy/27285940.html120 seats to be elected to the Supreme Council using PR in a single nationwide constituency.
No party is allowed to hold more than 65 seats.
Gender quota of minimum 30% and ethnic minority quota of 15%.
Brief background:Divided by the Tien-Shan mountains. Northern Kyrgyzstan is more industrialised as has the Russian population, while the south still relies more on agriculture, has higher population and more Muslims, both ethnic Kyrgyzian and others.
Kyrgyz nationalism is on the rise and they have been clampdown on sexual minorities and all civic groups that fight for actual liberal democracy or civil rights.
Russian influence:
- Gazprom is King in Kyrgyzstan.
- Russian media is the staple diet for the mases.
- The Moscow-led Eurasian Union has given Russian exports a boost.
- Russian military base and "advisors".
China:
- Chinese economic expansion - its construction of gleaming pylons and new,
- Giving the locals un-potholed roads through Kyrgyz mountains and valleys.
West:
US has lost its military base in Kyrgyzstan (Putin still has his). Western NOGs try to prop up civil society and human rights groups making Western influence unpopular with the elite.
Migration:
One million+ Kyrgyz have left, a fifth of the population, most of them ending up as cheap low-skilled workers all over Russia.
Fairly mixed population with minorities of Russians, Tartars, various Caucasian groups and Kyrgyz.
Kyrgyzstan's president Almazbek Atambayev isn't as thieving as his predecessors (or his neighbours), but is pretty authoritarian, but claims he will leave voluntarily in two years.
Ten years ago the Kyrgyz made the "Tulip Revolution" expelling tyrant Askar Akayev (first president and his insanely corrupt family.
Five years ago resident Kurmanbek Bakiyev was driven out (currently in exile in Belarus ) followed by inter-ethnic clashes.
Kyrgyz democracy:
1) the usual scheming oligarchic elite.
2) ineffectual parliament.
3) pluralistic and unpredictable with no less than 14 parties competing.
4) Kyrgyz government has introduced a biometric voting system to eliminate fraud. But the important thing will be whether vote tabulation will be fair.
5) most parties led by oligarchs forming cynical alliances with arch rivals whenever it suits them with little difference in terms of policy.
6) systemic corruption, unbearable fuel and electricity price hikes, a tumbling currency.
7) Kyrgyz politicians love starting protest movements, blocking roads, or inciting violence if things don't go their way.
