Kyrgyzstan went to parliamentary polls Sunday as tensions simmer after claims of a plot to unseat populist President Sadyr Japarov, who rose to power in post-vote unrest last year.
In three decades of independence, the impoverished ex-Soviet Central Asian nation has become a byword for volatility, with three presidents unseated during street protests fuelled by a combination of corruption, crackdowns and anger over perceived election irregularities.
While opinion polls show that Japarov’s government still enjoys popular support, critics say the recent jailing of potential rivals and a constitutional overhaul earlier this year show he is repeating the mistakes of predecessors.
His cash-strapped government also faces a difficult future, with a winter energy crisis looming, living costs rising and trade with next-door China hammered by the pandemic.
In the capital Bishkek, where both Russian and Kyrgyz are spoken, there was little sign of excitement about the vote, which is expected to deliver a 90-seat parliament largely loyal to Japarov.
Naurdin Shorukov, a 35-year-old maintenance worker, said he would not vote and believed the ballot would be won by “the same people who have been around for the last 30 years and brought nothing to the country”.
Daniel Zamirbekov, 18, said he would vote for a reform-touting party viewed as an outside bet for the parliamentary race in which 21 parties and hundreds of district candidates are competing.
But Zamirbekov worried that low turnout would benefit rich parties “without any vision” for the mountainous, land-locked country of 6.5 million.
Polling stations opened at 8:00 am (0200 GMT) on Sunday with first results expected shortly after counting starts at 8:00 pm.
Kyrgyzstan’s most recent round of instability came after parliamentary elections a year ago, when losing parties took to the streets to denounce a vote they said was rigged in favour of parties close to then-president Sooronbay Jeenbekov.
The vote results were annulled and current leader Japarov, freed from prison during the unrest, was elected president in January.—APP
