Violence against women in politics in the Kyrgyz Republic: the experience of women candidates in the 2021 local elections

"Violence against women in politics in the Kyrgyz Republic: the experience of women candidates in the 2021 local elections" is part of the global UN Women initiative to develop harmonized survey tools for collecting comparable data on violence against women in politics. To address existing data gaps, UN Women Kyrgyzstan conducted a comprehensive study on the prevalence of violence against women candidates during local council elections in Kyrgyzstan.

The study utilized both quantitative and qualitative methods, with data collection conducted between July and September 2023. The target population comprised 8,927 women who ran as candidates in elections for 28 city councils and 452 village councils. A total of 1,106 local council candidates participated in the survey. The qualitative component involved eight focus group discussions held prior to the survey and 15 in-depth interviews conducted afterward.

Additionally, a smaller-scale survey targeting women candidates for the national parliament was carried out, involving 105 respondents. Among the 1,106 surveyed women candidates, 441 (39.9%) reported experiencing violence at least once during the electoral campaign.