Kyrgyzstan votes in snap parliamentary election with no opposition | Elections News

President Sadyr Japarov aims to regain power by winning elections with his allies amid pressure on the media and opposition.

Voting is underway in Kyrgyzstan’s snap parliamentary election, with allies of President Sadyr Japarov expected to deliver a landslide victory.

Sunday’s vote comes without any formal party or organized opposition and is set to consolidate Japarov’s power.

A populist and nationalist, Japarov has since 2020 exerted firm control over Kyrgyzstan, traditionally Central Asia’s most democratic country.

A victory by his allies would set the stage for a presidential election in 2027, when Japarov is expected to seek another term.

After Kyrgyzstan gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, vibrant political life was vital in the mountainous country of about 7 million. In 2005, 2010, and 2020, Kyrgyz leaders were overthrown in street protests against elections that critics said were rigged, even though Kyrgyz media had been the freest in the region for decades.

But since coming to power following the 2020 protests, Japarov has cracked down on the media and opposition groups.

Elections were due to be held by November 2026, but Parliament voted in September to dissolve itself for snap elections.

Western-style approach ‘didn’t work’

Kyrgyzstan’s deputy prime minister and Japarov ally, Edil Baisalov, said the president’s popularity was partly based on his rejection of the turmoil of the past decades, which he said had not led to improved living standards or stability.

“The first 30 years we spent trying to copy,” he told Reuters news agency. “We thought we would adopt a Westminster-style parliamentary system and we would live like the Western countries. But it didn’t work, and it won’t work.”

Baislov said the crackdown on media, which has seen independent journalists designated “extremists”, was necessary to protect Kyrgyzstan from negative sentiment spread by foreign social media platforms.

Bolot Ibragimov, an opposition candidate running in the capital Bishkek, said he expected about 80 percent of the parliament, which is dominated by Japarov’s allies, to be re-elected.

Japarov, who has supported banning online pornography and the return of the death penalty, is also bolstered by strong economic growth, the fastest in Central Asia, even as high inflation and electricity shortages continue to erode living standards.

Economic experts say much of the surge is the result of Kyrgyzstan, which is in a customs union with Russia, becoming a major clearinghouse for imports to Russia redirected by sanctions over the war in Ukraine.

Western countries have imposed sanctions on several Kyrgyz banks and cryptocurrency companies, accusing them of helping them evade Russian sanctions.

Ahead of the election, Japarov has embraced relations with Russia, which has military bases in Kyrgyzstan and where many Kyrgyz travel as migrant workers.

Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Bishkek for talks, and his face was displayed on billboards around the city.