Election favours status quo

Bishkek: Two establishment parties looked set to dominate Kyrgyzstan’s Parliament after Sunday’s election, but it remained unclear if they could form a coalition.

The Birimdik (Unity) party of President Sooronbai Jeenbekov’s closest supporters led the count with 24.53% of the vote, according to preliminary data published by the country’s election authority.

Just behind it with 22.2% was Mekenim Kyrgyzstan (My Motherland Kyrgyzstan), which has avoided positioning itself as either allied with or opposed to the president.

Just four parties out of 16 contesting 120 seats in the singlechamber parliament appeared to have crossed the 7% barrier for election, the two others being Kyrgyzstan and Butun Kyrgyzstan.

However, three parties that failed to clear the threshold denounced the results yesterday, two of them staging a brief protest on the central square of the capital, Bishkek. — Reuters