Election campaigns provide particularly fertile ground for hate speech and incitement to hatred. Political parties, candidates, opinion makers, and members of civil society can be influential spreaders of hate speech in the tense atmosphere of political contestation. In Kyrgyzstan, civil society and media actors have reported an increase of hate speech in and around election periods.

Responding to this problem, the anti-hate speech campaign, run by WFD as part of the Media Dialogue programme funded by the EU, was delivered during this period. It aimed to raise awareness of the issue, relevant legislation and positive measures to identify and challenge hate speech.