Kirgisistan

Despite a large number of candidates and initiatives to improve the election process, the integrity of Kyrgyzstan’s early presidential election was weakened by a major imbalance in the outreach and visibility of the candidates as well as allegations of misuse of public resources, international observers to the presidential election said in a statement today.

Kyrgyzstan's acting President Sadyr Japarov has reiterated that he plans to step down to be eligible to take part in a presidential election in January and vowed to secure fair and open voting. … Under current Kyrgyz law, anyone serving in an acting or interim capacity as president may not run in an election for the post.

Kyrgyzstan's parliament has rushed through a bill to delay a rerun of parliamentary elections, set just a day earlier for December, until after constitutional reforms.

Kyrgyzstan's Central Election Commission (BShK) has set December 20 as the date for new parliamentary elections after an October 4 vote was annulled following public protests that ousted the government and the parliament speaker and led to the resignation of President Sooronbai Jeenbekov.

Kyrgyz Prime Minister Sadyr Japarov said on Thursday he was assuming presidential powers after President Sooronbai Jeenbekov and parliament speaker Kanatbek Isayev resigned on the same day.

Kyrgyzstan’s president, Sooronbay Jeenbekov, has resigned after violent protests erupted over parliamentary election results, saying he had no desire to go down in history as a man who brought bloodshed to his country.

Kyrgyzstan's divided parliament has controversially appointed Sadyr Japarov as prime minister, just days after the convicted kidnapper was sprung from prison during turmoil over the Central Asian country's disputed parliamentary elections.

Kyrgyz lawmakers have failed to gather a quorum to discuss ways of solving the country's ongoing political crisis amid a power vacuum following mass protests that ousted the government earlier this week.

Kyrgyzstan plunged into deep uncertainty on October 6 as officials annulled the results of weekend parliamentary elections following chaotic protests and various political forces claimed to seize power in what President Sooronbai Jeenbekov described as a coup.

Next week’s elections in Kyrgyzstan will be a key test of the country’s democratic credentials and could be the most inclusive yet, writes Louise Chamberlain, the Resident Representative of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) to the Kyrgyz Republic