What’s Next for Kyrgyzstan?

Voters in Kyrgyzstan will head back to the polls, eventually. The legitimacy of the new government formed by Prime Minister and Acting President Sadyr Japarov, who was in prison on election day, remains an open question, but Japarov’s government will have an opportunity to prove itself by confronting the problems that made the October 4 elections such a disaster. Kyrgyzstan’s parliamentary elections are held using party lists, with a 7 percent national threshold in place for a party to win any seats in the October 4 election. Earlier, on October 9, Japarov’s supporters attacked a rival rally that was called by opposition parties and a group protesting the presence of organized crime in Kyrgyzstan’s politics. This isn’t even funny.” The United States released a statement through its embassy in Bishkek on October 13, saying, “It is clear that one of the obstacles towards democratic progress is the attempt by organized crime groups to exert influence over politics and elections.” It urged that “citizens and their leaders must continue to fight against the influence of organized crime and corruption in politics.” That same day, the European Union issued a statement expressing concern about “possible procedural flaws during the designation of the new Prime Minister.” After Jeenbekov resigned on October 15, the EU released another statement saying, “It is vital that the President’s powers and competences are exercised within the legal framework of the Kyrgyz constitution… he reported transfer of presidential powers by the Speaker to the Prime Minister, Sadyr Japarov, raises serious questions in this regard.” Several days later, Kyrgyzstan’s new foreign minister, Ruslan Kazakbayev, spoke with the EU special representative for Central Asia Peter Burian to ask for loan to help support Kyrgyzstan’s budget.