Kyrgyzstan is heading for political stalemate as no single party emerges a clear winner after Sunday's historic elections.
Nationalists appear to hold a narrow lead in legislative polls held under a new constitution after unrest this year that left hundreds dead in the Central Asian nation
Nationalists unexpectedly emerged Monday as the strongest force in Kyrgyzstan’s closely fought elections, hailed by the authorities as the first democratic polls in 20 years in the troubled Central Asian nation.
The country awaits coalition bartering between five parties set to win parliament seats following the highly competitive polls, a scenario unknown in a region of strongman presidents and rubber-stamp parliaments.
The emergence of the virulently nationalist Ata-Zhurt party – whose leader has warned non-ethnic Kyrgyz citizens not to expect equal rights – was a surprise and came amid concerns of a resurgence of year’s deadly ethnic unrest.
Clashes between ethnic-majority Kyrgyz and minority Uzbeks left between 400 and 2,000 people dead in the south of the country in June, with Uzbeks claiming they were the victims of targeted bloodletting by the security forces.
But Kyrgyzstan President Roza Otunbayeva – who steadfastly refused to push back the poll despite warnings it could spark fresh violence – hailed the elections as a landmark moment in the turbulent history of the ex-Soviet state. “We have not known such elections for the last 20 years,” Otunbayeva said after a turnout of 56.59 percent.
“Today, all Kyrgyz people can vote without pressure, without dictation and without any manipulation for those parties that they consider to be the most powerful [and] fair, and that would protect their interests in parliament.”
Kyrgyzstan created Central Asia’s first parliamentary democracy in a referendum earlier this year after the bloody April revolution that toppled former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev and deadly inter-ethnic clashes in June.
The Zhogorku Kenesh will be the only parliament in the region with the powers to appoint the government and have a real influence on policy. International observers led by transatlantic security group the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe heaped praise on the vote, saying it respected freedoms and marked a step forward in the democratic process.
“I have observed many elections in Central Asia over the years but this is the first election where I could not predict the outcome,” said Morten Hoeglund, special coordinator of the short-term OSCE observer mission.
Yet in a rebuke to the provisional government that has led the country since the April uprising that ousted President Bakiyev, opposition parties polled strongly. In line with the new Kyrgyz regulations, the central election commission gave the figures as a percentage of the total electorate and not of those who actually cast their ballots on the day.
The Ata-Zhurt party was just ahead in the vote count with some 8.67 percent of the vote, results published by the central election commission said based on 91.56 percent of electoral precincts.
The pro-government Social Democratic Party, which had been expected to poll well, was close behind with 8.09 percent. The pro-Moscow Ar-Namys party, led by former Prime Minister Felix Kulov, earlier proclaimed victory in the elections, but results showed it in third place with 7.25 percent. The opposition Republic Party was in fourth with 7.06 percent.
Another big shock was the weakness of pro-government faction Ata-Meken, which just days ago was expected to take first place, instead trailing in fifth with 5.87 percent. Ata-Zhurt took the bulk of its votes from ethnic Kyrgyz in the south and courted controversy throughout the elections. Days before the polls, an angry crowd raided its Bishkek office, burning campaign literature in the street.
Its leader, former minister Kamchybek Tashiyev, however, denounced as a fabrication a video purportedly showing he wanted to bring Bakiyev back to power. The only country in the world to host both Russian and U.S. military bases, Kyrgyzstan stands at a strategic location bordering China and close enough to Afghanistan to serve as a supply hub for U.S. forces.
Kyrgyzstan has for years been the most unstable country in the region and Bakiyev, who has taken refuge in Belarus since his ousting, himself came to power on the back of the so-called Tulip Revolution uprising of 2005.
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