Today I’ve read an article by Dina Tokbaeva published on the Bishkek Press Club’s official website about present and possible future Internet regulations in Kyrgyzstan. During the interview to BPC, Bolot Malabaev, a member of the Central Election Committee (CEC), shared his views on how to regulate Internet resources and what work  the working group on information issues will do in this regard. He also talked about existing law on mass media in Kyrgyzstan.

The Central Election Committee has created a working group on information issues, the aim of which is to resolve and regulate problems concerning the mass media. The members of this working group are representatives of political parties, two are members of the CEC and then there’s a few journalists. Each year, the number of new websites is  growing rapidly, as does the number of internet users. Nowadays, many people as well as politicians  launch their own websites where they put all kinds of campaign information. Due to this, the amount of problems will soon increase, added Malabaev.

According to Kyrgyz law, the Internet does not fall into the category of mass media and cannot be regulated by the CEC during elections. Malabaev believes that civil and criminal law says that the owner of the website is responsible for “black PR” (which was used in last parliamentary elections prior to Akaev’s ousting), and it is important to warn them about it.

He also notes that this is a very delicate issue and the aim of the working group is now to raise the concern over the status of Internet resources during next sessions of the CEC. If any Internet resource violates any rule, it will be addressed and certain measurements will be taken. It is also important to ask the Parliament, which will be elected soon, to regulate Internet resources accordingly.

Only six online news agencies have passed the accreditation to report on the pre-election campaigning going on in the country now.