International support for electoral systems in Central Asia: potential risks and opportunities

The current stage of electoral system evolution in a significant number of sovereign states is associated with the active study of foreign experience, the promotion of practices that ensure democratic elections, and bilateral and multilateral cooperation with specialized institutions specializing in human dimension issues. The specific nature of cooperation in the field of international electoral support, which requires states to sacrifice some of their sovereignty to build a democratic electoral system, produces unpredictable results – ranging from qualitative transformations and public consensus regarding the results of elections and referendums to distrust and challenges to their legitimacy. The relevance of this study stems from the inadequacy of the theoretical framework within which electoral support programs are implemented and the impact of electoral system assistance is assessed. An evolutionary approach allows us to trace similarities and differences in the processes of electoral system design in Central Asian states, including those involving international assistance. A comparative approach, particularly a cross-organizational one, helps identify commonalities and specificities in electoral assistance activities, identifying factors influencing the intensity of cooperation. The article concludes that donors prioritize individual approaches to each aid recipient over regional development programs, and that support actors share a distinctive division of labor in which their activities complement each other. Trends in the promotion of regulatory provisions, practices, and technical know-how related to the spread of e-elections as an electoral innovation are highlighted. A substantiated hypothesis is presented that Central Asia can be described as a “digital testing ground.” While electoral support offers undeniable advantages as a way to study and adopt best practices and solutions that ensure the sustainable development of the electoral system, there are risks of losing some state sovereignty, facing foreign interference, and becoming overly dependent on the assessments of international organizations, whose positions are not always objective.

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