President Kurmanbek Bakiyev's party won every seat in Kyrgyzstan's next parliament, early results showed on Monday after a weekend election sharply criticised by Western monitors and the opposition.
The tiny ex-Soviet state, home to both US and Russian military bases, has been volatile since Bakiyev came to power in 2005 when a string of violent protests triggered by a disputed election toppled his long-serving predecessor, Askar Akayev.
If final results confirm the outcome, Bakiyev's Ak Zhol party would be unchallenged in the 90-seat chamber, ruling in a one-party system that marks a break from Kyrgyzstan's past as the most liberal state among more authoritarian Central Asian countries.
The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which sent more than 250 observers for the election, said the vote represented a "missed opportunity" to show commitment to international standards. "The parliamentary elections ... failed to meet a number of OSCE commitments," said Kimmo Kiljunen, the head of the OSCE observer mission. "I'm personally disappointed there is now a backslide in the election process."
The OSCE mission said it had registered cases of ballot stuffing and other violations. But, despite accusations of irregularities, many people said they voted for Ak Zhol, seeing it as a guarantor for stability following years of political turbulence. Ak Zhol won 48 percent of Sunday's vote, the Central Election Commission said on Monday, citing results after 80 percent of votes had been counted.
Comments
Comments are closed.