Former MP Žaparov was serving several years in prison for organizing an unauthorized demonstration and for holding a governor hostage. He was not released until Monday, after riots began in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek, the TASS news agency reported. According to official results, his political party won 6.95 percent of the vote on Sunday, and just narrowly did not get into parliament, writes the Interfax agency.
However, the results of Sunday’s vote have since been declared invalid by the Central Electoral Commission. The chairwoman of the election commission, Nuržan Šajldabeková, said that the commission had decided to cancel the election result in an effort to avoid tensions in the country.
According to Reuters, opposition groups claim that they have government buildings in the Bishkek metropolis and have taken control of Kyrgyzstan. Zheenbekov believes that the country is threatened by a coup attempt. In the morning, he called on his opponents to end the protests.
According to Reuters, one person died in the protests and 590 were injured. A spokesman for the Ministry of Health said that one person in Bishkek succumbed to his injuries after a clash with the police and, according to his clothes, he was a civilian.
Some protesters stormed the building, which houses Zheenbekov’s office as well as parliament. Members of opposition groups broke into several other buildings, including the mayor’s office, and appointed their own national security commander, attorney general, and commander of Bishkek. According to Reuters, several provincial governors have resigned and the central bank has advised local banks not to open and strengthen security measures on Tuesday.
Zheenbekov wants the election commission to check the results
On his website, Zheenbekov called the occupation of the government building and security headquarters an attempt by some political forces to come to power illegally. “I call on the leaders of the political parties to reassure their supporters. I ordered the security forces not to shoot, “the president said.
He also said that he “asked the Central Electoral Commission to check all electoral irregularities and, if necessary, to invalidate the result.” Clashes between police and protesters who called for the parliamentary elections to be called off continued in Bishkek on Monday.
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