The Kyrgyz parliamentary majority coalition has announced that it’s ready to approve the current chief of presidential staff, Sapar Isakov, as Kyrgyzstan’s prime minister, 24.kg reported on August 22.
The decision follows Sooronbay Jeenbekov’s resignation from the prime minister post. The resignation is meant to place him on “equal footing” with other registered candidates for the upcoming presidential elections on October 15. Jeenbekov was registered on the same day by Central Election Commission as a candidate for the Social Democratic Party – the party of the current president, Almazbek Atambayev.
Other officially registered candidates so far are Temir Sariyev, leader of the Ak Shumkar party, and Omurbek Babanov, leader of the Respublika-Ata Jurt party. As many as 59 people have applied for candidacy in the presidential election. Among the potential candidates, 11 were nominated by political parties, while the remaining 48 are independents.
Each registrant needs to collect 30,000 signatures and pay KGS1mn (€12,300) to support their candidacy. They must also pass a Kyrgyz language test. The final list of officially registered candidates will be announced on September 10.
While Atambayev has agreed to step down as the constitution demands, analysts believe he wants to appoint a loyal ally to the post and maintain his influence from behind the scenes.
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