Kyrgyz leader Japarov gets parliament to reset election date

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By Aigerim Turgunbaeva

BISHKEK (Reuters) – Kyrgyzstan’s President Sadyr Japarov has persuaded parliament to push back the date of the next election by several months, in an indication he may be turning his thoughts towards running for a second term.

At Japarov’s request, lawmakers on Wednesday passed a bill to hold the next presidential vote on January 24, 2027, instead of October 18, 2026. This would ensure he serves the full six years of his mandate, which analysts said suggested he was thinking about extending his presidency.

If he ran again and won, Japarov, 56, would be the first Kyrgyz president in two decades to secure a second term. Since long-serving ruler Askar Akayev was toppled in 2005, two other presidents, including Japarov’s immediate predecessor, have been ousted in revolutions.

“He hasn’t said it himself yet, but both by law and by the state of affairs in the country, it would probably make sense for him to run for a second term. Some of his team have said he’s expected to do this,” political scientist Emil Juraev told Reuters.

Japarov, who as an opposition politician was jailed between 2017 and 2020, swept to power that year on the back of protests against alleged fraud in a parliamentary election. He won a snap presidential election in January 2021.

The nationalist politician has brought Kyrgyzstan’s once chaotic political scene under his firm control, including through populist moves like the 2021 nationalisation of the Kumtor gold mine, one of Central Asia’s largest. This year he signed a border deal to end a conflict with neighbouring Tajikistan.

Traditionally the most democratic of the five Central Asian states that emerged from the Soviet Union, Kyrgyzstan has in recent years become more aligned with its authoritarian neighbours.

Under Japarov, Kyrgyzstan has introduced a law against so-called “foreign agents” along the lines of Russian legislation, whilst also shuttering several independent media outlets. Parliament – to which elections are due in November – is dominated by parties loyal to the president.

The mostly Muslim country of 7 million people has close ties with Russia, where many of its citizens migrate for work. It also hosts several Russian military bases.

Since the start of the war in Ukraine in 2022, trade data show that Kyrgyzstan has become a key backdoor route for goods from the European Union to enter Russia, bypassing sanctions against Moscow. Kyrgyz lender Keremet Bank was placed under U.S. sanctions in January.

Analysts say Kyrgyzstan is also a major conduit for Chinese products such as ball bearings, which have both civilian and military uses, to enter Russia.

(Reporting by Aigerim Turgunbaeva, Writing by Felix Light, Editing by Mark Trevelyan and Ros Russell)