Voters in Kyrgyzstan cast ballots yesterday for parliamentary runoff elections amid rising tension over whether the Central Asian country's longtime leader might seek to extend his rule beyond constitutional limits.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said the first round of voting for the 75-member parliament fell short of international standards, noting instances of vote buying, questionable disqualification of candidates and interference with the media.
"This is the dirtiest election I've seen," Ishenbai Kadyrbekov, a disqualified opposition candidate who has led protests, said yesterday. Only two of the 31 seats filled without a runoff contest in the Feb. 27 vote went to opposition candidates. Of the 44 still-open seats, opposition candidates were contesting about a dozen in Sunday's election. Among the pro-government candidates is President Askar Akayev's daughter, Bermet.
The opposition leader, Kadyrbekov, also accused the West of turning a blind eye on the alleged election violations, saying that could encourage Akayev to circumvent laws and extend his 15-year rule, which ends in October.
Akayev has repeatedly denied he wants another term. He has been in power since 1990 and is not eligible under the constitution to run after serving two consecutive terms.
However, the opposition fears his loyalists are seeking to extend his rule or to hand-pick his successor. A compliant parliament could ease the task, which could require constitutional changes. Fueling the controversy, presidential aide Abdil Seghizbayev accused the opposition of pushing Akayev toward introducing a referendum to confirm his powers, which he hinted could replace a presidential vote slated for October.
"I want to ask the opposition: Do they want their actions to push the president to directly ask the people to confirm his powers for another term?" Seghizbayev said Friday.
Still, Akayev is seen as the most liberal of the veteran leaders in ex-Soviet Central Asia who all have clung to power through dubious legal changes and referendums. His departure in October could create a precedent of democratic transition of power in the region.
‘HARD-HEADED’: Some people did not evacuate to protect their property or because they were skeptical of the warnings, a disaster agency official said Typhoon Man-yi yesterday slammed into the Philippines’ most populous island, with the national weather service warning of flooding, landslides and huge waves as the storm sweeps across the archipelago nation. Man-yi was still packing maximum sustained winds of 185kph after making its first landfall late on Saturday on lightly populated Catanduanes island. More than 1.2 million people fled their homes ahead of Man-yi as the weather forecaster warned of a “life-threatening” effect from the powerful storm, which follows an unusual streak of violent weather. Man-yi uprooted trees, brought down power lines and smashed flimsy houses to pieces after hitting Catanduanes in the typhoon-prone
BELT-TIGHTENING: Chinese investments in Cambodia are projected to drop to US$35 million in 2026 from more than US$420 million in 2021 At a ceremony in August, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet knelt to receive blessings from saffron-robed monks as fireworks and balloons heralded the breaking of ground for a canal he hoped would transform his country’s economic fortunes. Addressing hundreds of people waving the Cambodian flag, Hun Manet said China would contribute 49 percent to the funding of the Funan Techo Canal that would link the Mekong River to the Gulf of Thailand and reduce Cambodia’s shipping reliance on Vietnam. Cambodia’s government estimates the strategic, if contentious, infrastructure project would cost US$1.7 billion, nearly 4 percent of the nation’s annual GDP. However, months later,
HOPEFUL FOR PEACE: Zelenskiy said that the war would ‘end sooner’ with Trump and that Ukraine must do all it can to ensure the fighting ends next year Russia’s state-owned gas company Gazprom early yesterday suspended gas deliveries via Ukraine, Vienna-based utility OMV said, in a development that signals a fast-approaching end of Moscow’s last gas flows to Europe. Russia’s oldest gas-export route to Europe, a pipeline dating back to Soviet days via Ukraine, is set to shut at the end of this year. Ukraine has said it would not extend the transit agreement with Russian state-owned Gazprom to deprive Russia of profits that Kyiv says help to finance the war against it. Moscow’s suspension of gas for Austria, the main receiver of gas via Ukraine, means Russia now only
A beauty queen who pulled out of the Miss South Africa competition when her nationality was questioned has said she wants to relocate to Nigeria, after coming second in the Miss Universe pageant while representing the West African country. Chidimma Adetshina, whose father is Nigerian, was crowned Miss Universe Africa and Oceania and was runner-up to Denmark’s Victoria Kjar Theilvig in Mexico on Saturday night. The 23-year-old law student withdrew from the Miss South Africa competition in August, saying that she needed to protect herself and her family after the government alleged that her mother had stolen the identity of a South
RSS