Kyrgyzstan's recently-appointed Prime Minister Sadyr Japarov (L), who has taken over as president, alongside former President Sooronbay Jeenbekov (R) in Bishkek
Credit: AFP
Kyrgyzstan’s firebrand prime minister took over as president on Friday in a power grab that the European Union said "raises serious questions" about the state of the country’s democracy.
Sooronbai Jeenbekov quit as Kyrgyzstan’s president earlier in the day, saying that he didn’t want any more blood on the streets of Bishkek. The move effectively completed an uprising that puts power in the hands of Sadyr Japarov, the recently appointed prime minister.
Kyrgyz officials suggested that fresh parliamentary elections could be held by the end of the year.
But the concentration of power with Mr Japarov, a convicted kidnapper who had been in prison until last week, prompted international concern among those who have promoted Krygysztan as an outpost of democracy in autocratic Central Asia.
Josep Borrell Fontelles, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs, said: “The reported transfer of presidential powers to PM Japarov, raises serious questions,” he said. “The Kyrgyz Republic is a parliamentary democracy, and the division of powers therein should be respected and preserved.”
Mr Jeenbekov, who was elected three years ago, said that it was now time for Mr Japarov, a firebrand populist who has called for the nationalisation of foreign-owned mines, to withdraw thousands of his supporters from Bishkek.
They have been rallying since last week when they also fought police and rival protesters in the centre of the city.
"I do not want to go down in the history of Kyrgyzstan as the President who shed blood and shot at his own citizens," Mr Jeenbekov said.
Several hundred people were injured and one person was killed when protesters captured key government buildings, violence triggered by disputed parliamentary elections on October 4.
This was Kyrgyzstan’s third revolution in 15 years.
During the violence, Mr Japarov was sprung from prison. He had been serving an 11-year sentence for taking a regional official hostage in 2013, charges which he has said were politically motivated.
MPs then promoted him to be prime minister and after Mr Jeenbekov’s resignation, he also took over as president.
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