Kyrgyz opposition launches protest

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KYRGYZSTAN — On July 29 the Kyrgyz opposition announced it would begin indefinite protests over the results of presidential elections held on July 23. The official results showed that incumbent President Kurmanbek Bakiyev won the elections with more than 76 percent of the vote and his main competitor, leader of the Social Democratic Party and the candidate from the united opposition Almazbek Atambayev, won only about eight percent of the vote.

Opposition headquarters set up at Atambayev’s election office said nearly 5,000 Kyrgyz took to the streets in several towns in protest on July 27. Regional authorities, however, claimed that no one other than “30 of Atambayev’s relatives, friends, and supporters in his home town,” showed up.

Contrary to its own assertion, however, the government reinforced police patrols in the city and towns around the country. They arrested between 40 and 80 people over the past few days. On July 27, Bishkek’s Justice Ministry registered a resolution by the city government that enumerates locations where public protests can be held without the consent of authorities. As it turns out, there is only one such place, a public square in a remote region of the city.

In his televised address to the nation on July 28 President Bakiyev describing his plans for a second term and made no reference to opposition disagreement with the election results.

Opposition leaders appealed to the world community to persuade Bakiyev to call new elections. “The progressive part of Kyrgyz society has a choice today. We can either resist the establishment of a dictatorship in our country, or watch it head toward tragedy as a result of repression by the Bakiyev clan,” the authors of the statement posted on the Social Democratic Party Web site said.

[24.kg, Ferghana.ru, SDPK.kg, Azattyq.org, CA-News.org]