Kyrgyzstan's PM resigns after post-election unrest
Kyrgyzstan's Prime Minister Kubatbek Boronov has resigned his post after opposition groups seized power by storming government buildings in the country’s capital and getting the electoral commission to annul the results of a recent parliamentary election.
The Kyrgyz parliament’s press service broke the news on Tuesday and said the legislature had elected opposition politician Sadyr Zhaparov as prime minister.
"Sadyr Zhaparov was elected Acting Prime Minister of the Kyrgyz Republic. This decision was made at an extraordinary meeting of the (parliament)," the press service said, citing a vote that took place in a hotel after protesters seized the building that housed the legislature.
Kyrgyzstan's electoral body earlier in the day invalidated the results of Sunday’s parliamentary vote after thousands of protesters, instigated by vote fraud allegations, seized the Central Asian country’s parliamentary and presidential compound in the capital, Bishkek.
The protesters set on fire several cars and damaged many building in the city before police moved to contain riots and control the situation.
The rioters also released from custody former president Almazbek Atambayev, who had been sentenced to a long prison term in August on corruption allegations after falling out with Kyrgyzstan’s current President Sooronbai Jeenbekov, whose whereabouts are unknown following the post-election unrest.
The protests came in response to what many in the country regarded as rigged parliamentary polls, in which two establishment parties swept all the votes.
Most of the participants in the protests were reportedly members of the more than 10 political parties that did not win any seats in the legislature, demanding the annulment of the poll results and the holding of repeat elections.
More than 600 people have been reportedly injured during the protests. The Kyrgyz Health Ministry also confirmed the death of one person in Bishkek riots.
The opposition said it had established a coordination council and was discussing the line-up of a provisional government.
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