Thousands more gathered Monday in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan’s capital, to protest the effects of a parliamentary vote that foreign observers say broke “credible accusations of vote-buying. “
The vote ruled through two parties close to Russia’s pro-Russian president, Sooronbai Jeenbekov, leaving two nationalist parties with little chance of winning a singles seat in parliament based on initial results.
“The president has promised to oversee fair elections. He kept his word,” opposition candidate Ryskeldi Mombekov told a crowd of about 5,000 people, asking the Central Electoral Commission to cancel the vote “in the next 24 hours. “
His party, Ata Meken, was sure to enter parliament, but appeared to be far from the seven% threshold required for a seat.
Mombekov said that “200 horsemen”, normal characteristics of protests in the mountainous country, were heading from a village outside the capital.
Ala-Too Square in Bishkek was the scene of two revolutions that overthrew authoritarian presidents in 2005 and 2010, but the former Soviet country has enjoyed relative stability over the past decade.
Moscow’s dominant strategic position in Kyrgyzstan, a country with no way out to sea that borders China, is not considered threatened, regardless of the final results of the vote.
Russia has a military base in the country and is a destination for thousands of Kyrgyz immigrants.
Kyrgyzstan’s dependence on China also seems highly likely to increase, and Jeenbekov recently asked Beijing to extend payment periods of $1. 8 billion owed to China’s Exim Bank, more than 40% of the country’s overall foreign debt, to compensate for the economic pain of the coronavirus. Pandemic.
– ‘Serious concern’ –
As the opposition crowd grew until Monday and called for Jeenbekov’s resignation, photographs on social media showed cars of the insurrection passing near Ala-Too Square, indicating imaginable repression.
Thomas Boserup, head of the electoral project organized through the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said at a briefing that the vote was “generally well organized,” but that accusations of vote-buying were “serious concern. “
The main parties were Birimdik and Mekenim Kyrgyzstan, two factions that favor deeper integration with moscow’s Eurasian Union trade bloc, which won a quarter of the vote according to the initial recount.
Birimdik includes the president’s younger brother, Asylbek Jeenbekov, while Mekenim Kyrgyzstan is known as a vehicle for the interests of the tough Matraimov family.
The family circle’s testament is Rayimbek Matraimov, a customs exficial who was the target of anti-corruption protests last year and allegedly helped fund Jeenbekov’s successful presidential crusade in 2017.
A third party with close ties to the presidency, the Kyrgyz party, also gave the impression that it was about to enter parliament, led by wealthy businessmen, in addition to a vodka tycoon from the north of the country.
tol-cr/er