Voters in the Central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan were on track to elect Sadyr Japarov as president, nationalist politician, who came out of prison last year amid turmoil and has called in the past for the nationalization of some of the most valuable assets in the world. the country, which worries foreign investors in the turbulent, resource-rich country.
Sunday’s election, which also saw voters approving changes to the constitution giving the president more power, is the first vote since last year’s riots that forced ex-president Sooronbai Jeenbekov to resign, causing a long period of political uncertainty. the land bound to Russia was covered. .
Mr Japarov was elected Prime Minister in October and also served as Acting President following Mr Jeenbekov’s resignation.
Those protests, fueled by allegations of vote-buying in last October’s parliamentary elections, worried Moscow and contributed to the Kremlin’s problems in its former Soviet periphery, including an ongoing protest movement in Belarus and a conflict in the South Caucasus. increasing the influence of Turkey. There.
Mr. Japarov led with more than 79% of the votes cast after the polls closed late on Sunday, with more than 90% of the vote counted, Russian news agencies reported the country’s central electoral commission. There were 17 candidates for the post. There were no reports of violence during the voting.