Voters in Kyrgyzstan cast ballots yesterday for parliamentary runoff elections amid rising tension over whether the Central Asian country's longtime leader might seek to extend his rule beyond constitutional limits.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said the first round of voting for the 75-member parliament fell short of international standards, noting instances of vote buying, questionable disqualification of candidates and interference with the media.
"This is the dirtiest election I've seen," Ishenbai Kadyrbekov, a disqualified opposition candidate who has led protests, said yesterday. Only two of the 31 seats filled without a runoff contest in the Feb. 27 vote went to opposition candidates. Of the 44 still-open seats, opposition candidates were contesting about a dozen in Sunday's election. Among the pro-government candidates is President Askar Akayev's daughter, Bermet.
The opposition leader, Kadyrbekov, also accused the West of turning a blind eye on the alleged election violations, saying that could encourage Akayev to circumvent laws and extend his 15-year rule, which ends in October.
Akayev has repeatedly denied he wants another term. He has been in power since 1990 and is not eligible under the constitution to run after serving two consecutive terms.
However, the opposition fears his loyalists are seeking to extend his rule or to hand-pick his successor. A compliant parliament could ease the task, which could require constitutional changes. Fueling the controversy, presidential aide Abdil Seghizbayev accused the opposition of pushing Akayev toward introducing a referendum to confirm his powers, which he hinted could replace a presidential vote slated for October.
"I want to ask the opposition: Do they want their actions to push the president to directly ask the people to confirm his powers for another term?" Seghizbayev said Friday.
Still, Akayev is seen as the most liberal of the veteran leaders in ex-Soviet Central Asia who all have clung to power through dubious legal changes and referendums. His departure in October could create a precedent of democratic transition of power in the region.
A ship that appears to be taking on the identity of a scrapped gas carrier exited the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, showing how strategies to get through the waterway are evolving as the Middle East war progresses. The vessel identifying as liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier Jamal left the Strait on Friday morning, ship-tracking data show. However, the same tanker was also recorded as having beached at an Indian demolition yard in October last year, where it is being broken up, according to market participants and port agent’s reports. The ship claiming to be Jamal is likely a zombie vessel that
Japan is to downgrade its description of ties with China from “one of its most important” in an annual diplomatic report, according to a draft reviewed by Reuters, as relations with Beijing worsen. This year’s Diplomatic Bluebook, which Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s government is expected to approve next month, would instead describe China as an important neighbor and the relationship as “strategic” and “mutually beneficial.” The draft cites a series of confrontations with Beijing over the past year, including export controls on rare earths, radar lock-ons targeting Japanese military aircraft and increased pressure around Taiwan. The shift in tone underscores a deterioration
LAW CONSTRAINTS: The US has been pressing allies to send warships to open the Strait, but Tokyo’s military actions are limited under its postwar pacifist constitution Japan could consider deploying its military for minesweeping in the Strait of Hormuz if a ceasefire is reached in the war on Iran, Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Toshimitsu Motegi said yesterday. “If there were to be a complete ceasefire, hypothetically speaking, then things like minesweeping could come up,” Motegi said. “This is purely hypothetical, but if a ceasefire were established and naval mines were creating an obstacle, then I think that would be something to consider.” Japan’s military actions are limited under its postwar pacifist constitution, but 2015 security legislation allows Tokyo to use its Self-Defense Forces overseas if an attack,
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) yesterday faced a regional election battle in Rhineland-Palatinate, now held by the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD). Merz’s CDU has enjoyed a narrow poll lead over the SPD — their coalition partners at the national level — who have ruled the mid-sized state for 35 years. Polling third is the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which spells a greater threat to the two centrist parties in several state elections in September in the country’s ex-communist east. The picturesque state of Rhineland-Palatinate, bordering France, Belgium and Luxembourg and with a population of about 4 million,
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