Kyrgyzstan

Voters in Kyrgyzstan have approved a new constitution that expands the power of the president in a referendum, according to preliminary results.

Kamchybek Tashiev, the head of Kyrgyzstan's State Committee for National Security, told RFE/RL on March 26 that talks with a group of Uzbek officials led by Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov had ended with the signing of a protocol on the final delimitation and demarcation of the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border.

Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov has praised constitutional changes he initiated saying they are needed to create a strong central branch of government to "establish order" in the Central Asian country, despite concerns by some groups they will create an authoritarian ruler if accepted in a referendum next month.

[…] It has been unclear when exactly the next parliamentary elections in Kyrgyzstan would take place, as the country has been in a political crisis since the last parliamentary elections in October led to protests that triggered the toppling of the government and the resignation of then-President Sooronbai Jeenbekov.

Populist Sadyr Japarov was sworn in as president of ex-Soviet Kyrgyzstan Thursday, completing a remarkable transformation from prisoner to president in just a few months.

Nationalist politician Sadyr Japarov won a landslide victory on Sunday (10 January) in Kyrgyzstan’s snap presidential election, which was triggered by the collapse of the previous government.

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.