Epress.am News from Armenia
Kyrgyz President Roza Otunbayeva has launched what is hoped to be the first free election for a parliamentary republic in Central Asia, when she signed a decree setting the date for October 10, reports Telegraph.co.uk.
The Kyrgyzstan government had delayed the announcement until it could lift the curfew on the troubled southern cities of Osh and Jalalabad.
The curfew, which has been in place since up to 2,000 people were killed and hundreds of thousands displaced by ethnic violence in June, was ended at the same time.
“The is the first time, historically speaking, when it’s really an open field, when the people are free to choose right and left,” said Edil Baisalov, a civil rights campaigner who is now leader of the new Aikyol-El party. “There’s now no incumbent whatsoever.” The impoverished country of 5.5 million people has long held the best promise for democracy in the region. Both Askar Akayev, the first President, and Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who seized power in 2005’s Tulip Revolution, made promising starts, only to end by rigging elections, altering the constitution, and enriching their families.
Otunbayeva has ordered opposition leaders who joined government after April’s revolution to step down if they want to contest the election, to avoid accusations of vote-rigging.
Relations between ethnic Uzbek and ethnic Kyrgyz remain tense in Osh and Jalalabad. Ethnic Uzbeks in the town accuse local police and government, who are predominantly Kyrgyz, of continuing harassment. Mrs Otunbayeva herself conceded last week that police had targeted ethnic Uzbeks.
Miroslav Jenca, UN special representative for Central Asia, warned last week that the run-up to the elections could see a return to violence.
“The elections will be very competitive. Political fights will be very tough, and I would say also dirty, so there definitely is a possibility that the security situation can deteriorate in the run-up to the election or around the election day,” he said.
On Saturday night, Ata-Meken, the socialist party, rallied more than 25,000 supporters at the football stadium of the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek in the first major political meeting of the two-month campaign.