Kyrgyzstan Holds Vote Hoping To Avoid Repeat Of Past Chaos

Kyrgyzstan holds parliamentary elections on Sunday where the most important question will be whether the Central Asian country can avoid yet another bout of post-vote instability

Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th Nov, 2021 ) :Kyrgyzstan holds parliamentary elections on Sunday where the most important question will be whether the Central Asian country can avoid yet another bout of post-vote instability.

The poor, mountainous nation of 6.5 million people has seen repeated political chaos since gaining independence with the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.

Kyrgyzstan's elections are more competitive than those of its authoritarian neighbours, but three Kyrgyz leaders have been forced from power by protests in the last three decades.

The latest 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.

Protesters seized control of government buildings and hundreds were injured in running battles with police who fired tear gas and water cannon.

The vote results were annulled and current leader Sadyr Japarov, freed from prison during the unrest, was elected president in January.

The vote on Sunday will see 21 parties and hundreds of district candidates campaigning for 90 seats in the single-chamber parliament.

Japarov has no obvious horse in the race, but few candidates are seen as hostile to government.

For many Kyrgyz, the main hope is for the vote to proceed peacefully.

"Maybe some want (a revolution) but I think most people are tired of revolutions," 60-year-old Chynara Suleimanova told AFP in the capital Bishkek.

Previous elections have been marred by allegations of widespread vote-buying and Japarov has pledged that this election will be clean.

Daniel Zamirbekov, an 18-year-old student who said he would vote for a reform-touting party viewed as an outside bet for parliament, was sceptical.

"(Voters) will be bussed in and a woman (outside the polling station) will tick them off her list... it is part of our mentality," he said.

Populist Japarov has now cemented power, overseeing constitutional changes that stripped away single-term limits for sitting presidents and strengthened his office at the legislature's expense.