Kyrgyz security services arrest lawmaker for allegedly planning election riots and coup

Kyrgyz security services arrest lawmaker for allegedly planning election riots and coup
Memorial plaques for victims of Kyrgyzstan's 2005 Tulip Revolution, or First Kyrgyz Revolution, which led to President Askar Akayev's fall from power. / Ua1-136-500.
By bne IntelliNews October 2, 2017

Kyrgyzstan’s state security service (GKNB) has detained an opposition lawmaker, Kanatbek Isayev, two weeks ahead of the presidential election for allegedly planning riots and a violent coup, it said on September 30.

Isayev, a supporter of main opposition presidential candidate Omurbek Babanov, had allegedly conspired with criminal groups to orchestrate riots during and after the October 15 polling day. There will certainly be suspicion that the arresting of Isayev is part of a plot to prevent Babanov, seen as a leading candidate in the election, from getting in the way of the ruling Social Democratic Party’s (SDP) candidate, Sooranbay Jeenbekov, who has been given very public backing by President Almazbek Atambayev.

In mid-September, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan exchanged recriminations and notes of diplomatic protest following a meeting between Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Babanov, with Bishkek calling the encounter a form of meddling in Kyrgyzstan’s internal politics. The row ignited after the Kazakh president’s press office issued a statement which gave the impression that the meeting was one between leaders of equal standing.

In a statement, the security service alleged Isayev had selected, paid, and readied young people, including young criminals, to use them for illegal actions during and after the election. It added that Isayev was planning to use as a pretext “the falsification of the results of the voting" and had paid a large sum to organised crime groups to carry out the claimed plot.

The arrest of Isayev will thicken anxieties stemming from the fate of the country's two previous regimes - excluding Roza Otunbayeva’s interim government in 2010 - which were toppled by violent revolutions, bringing down the administrations of Askar Akayev in 2005 and Kurmanbek Bakiyev in 2010. As such, the vote will be seen as the first election to test whether Kyrgyzstan has anything like an enduring commitment to democracy.

On September 30, around one thousand people rallied in Bishkek to protest against election-campaign abuses, including bribery and the use of "administrative resources", a practice in which candidates and parties use official connections to influence and pressure voters, especially state employees. Around 500 protesters gathered on Bishkek’s central square to attend the “For Fair Elections” protest. They were then joined by hundreds more for a march to the city's Botanical Garden.

Atambayev’s recent crackdowns on opposition members and media, including a number of arrests, raise concerns that Kyrgyzstan is moving away from the democratic path set out following the revolutions and may face another violent regime change, which some analysts say could potentially cement the country as a failed state.  

The Kyrgyz president, in office since 2011, is barred by the constitution from running for a second term. While Atambayev has repeatedly stated his intention to pursue no further political office, his critics suspect he hopes to appoint his own loyal prime minister and possibly manipulate the presidential election in favour of his chosen candidate.

Campaigning for the presidency of the landlocked country of six million officially got under way on September 10 with a total of 13 candidates registered for the election.

The ex-Soviet country has already fallen back into the category of consolidated authoritarian regime, according to Freedom House’s Nations in Transit 2017 report.

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