There was a big concert tonight in the main square in Bishkek. It was part of a Kyrgyz Rock the Vote campaign (I guess ‘Vote or Die’ probably would not have gone over well here) to get young people involved. A myriad or groups were supporting it, including local ones such asACSSC, KelKel and the Coalition for Democracy and Civil Society, and international ones such as the American embassy, NDI, OSCE and IFES. It was certainly a big event - possibly the largest peaceful assembly that Bishkek - or Kyrgyzstan for that matter - has ever had. The $64,000 (literally, I would guess) question is: will it have an impact? Did it effectively communicate the message that voting is important? Pundits (if there are such people in Kyrgyzstan) warn of a low turnout that could cast suspicion on the election and could bring up issues of presidential mandate (though in a country that has just overthrown an increasingly authoritarian president, such discussions might not be a bad thing). The concerts helped turn around declining youth voting numbers in the 2004 US election, but arguably other factors made youth more engaged. Will they work here? Unfortunately, there seems to be little in Kyrgyzstan that attracts youth to politics; democracy is viewed in contrast to Soviet times where, although they had very few liberties, people had jobs and could make a living. I’m not sure if big events will change things without being supplemented by other countrywide youth engagement programs (in all fairness, there are other programs being run, but the concert was clearly the cornerstone of the entire operation). We’ll see, however: Sunday’s vote will reveal all…