Kyrgyz choose their new president amid charges of fraud and calls for street protests
Bishkek (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Even before final ballots are counted Kyrgyzstan’s presidential elections are marred in controversy. Opposition candidate Almazbek Atambayev said he was pulling out, claiming widespread fraud and calling for the poll to be cancelled. However, Damir Lisovsky, head of the central election commission, said that the “election can be declared valid.” About 61 per cent of eligible voters took part in the election.
The election took place today in relative calm. An opposition rally of about a thousand people took place in front of the mayor's office in the northern town of Balykchi but was broken up by riot police, a spokesman for Atambayev said.
Outgoing President Kurmabek Bakiyev was the clear frontrunner going before voting day. But opposition parties have accused him of using violence against his adversaries.
With the economy crumbling many voters have turned away from him. Analysts note however that the opposition has failed to capitalise on the situation because it is split in many groups, each holding very distant positions.
In 2005 Bakiyev won with 90 per cent of the vote after street protests forced his predecessor to resign and flee.
Atambayev warned that he would not accept defeat in fraudulent elections and that even tonight the population might take to the streets.
Bakiyev in turn warned potential demonstrators that any attempt to cause disorder would be suppressed, “within the limits of the law”.
Kyrgyzstan, a small former Soviet republic, is a key alley for the United States in its war in Afghanistan. The country is home to a US air force base, but also to a Russian base.
Until 2005 it was relatively calm, but in the last few years it has become a place of refuge for a number of Islamic extremists fleeing Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Some of the government’s critics say the authorities are using the spectre of Islamic terrorism to get votes and extract concessions from both Russia and the United States.
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20/04/2007
