Ex-president of Kyrgyzstan Almazbek Atambayev on March 31 had his leadership of the Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan (SDPK) reinstated for the first time since 2011, when he suspended his time at the helm after becoming president. The 17th SDPK congress held on the same day elected Atambayev as party chairman.

The chairman’s seat had remained empty since 2011. SDPK, which controls the ruling parliamentary majority, is also the party of recently elected presidential successor Sooranbai Jeenbekov. Atambayev said that he "has to engage in politics again” in order to assist Jeenbekov and prepare the party for the 2020 parliamentary elections. Atambayev’s return to politics with the intent of helping Jeenbekov rule over the country further confirms the view of many critics that Jeenbekov is Atambayev’s stooge in the ex-president's bid to continue ruling from the shadows.

“After the amendments to the Constitution came into force, the transition from the presidential republic to a parliamentary one began, and it is a test for any president," Atambayev said at the March 31 meeting, where he publicly appeared for the first time since leaving office last November.

“Our task is to help President Jeenbekov, but not to praise his every action. We must say tough words," he added.

"I am two years older than he, and I can openly speak with him as an older brother. Sometimes I have to say unpleasant words. I am glad that he listens to all this and draws the right conclusions,”the former president noted.

“Over the past 10 years I did my best so that there was no family clan rule in the country, and I do not want that time to have been spent in vain," the SDPK leader concluded.