Parliamentary Elections, 28 November 2021
A political crisis unfolded following the 4 October 2020 parliamentary elections. The publication of preliminary voting results, indicating that the new parliament would be dominated by pro-presidential parties, triggered large-scale protests, claiming that the elections were fraudulent, and demanding their annulment.
After the protests grew and turned violent, the CEC voided the voting results on 6 October. This was followed by a period of uncertainty, during which a former member of parliament (MP), Sadyr Japarov, claimed the office of the prime minister and was confirmed in this position on 14 October by the outgoing parliament, which had extended its own mandate.
The then-President Sooronbay Jeenbekov, who would have served until 2023, resigned on 15 October. Next in line for presidential succession would have been the then-speaker of parliament Kanatbek Isaev, yet he declined to take up the office, stating that he would not be able to stand for presidential election if he were to assume the office. Thus, the acting presidency, according to the constitution, passed to Prime Minister Japarov, who subsequently filled both offices. On 24 October, the CEC announced the early presidential election.
A referendum was held 10 January 2021, in which voters were asked to choose the form of governance - presidential or parliamentary, or vote against all options. Given that candidate Japarov was the initiator and principal advocate for the presidential model, an intrinsic connection between his presidential campaign and the referendum developed.
With nearly all ballots counted, the Central Election Commission (BShK) said Japarov received slightly more than 79 percent of the vote. There were 17 candidates in the presidential race. Japarov's closest rival and fellow nationalist candidate, Adakhan Madumarov, received 6.7 percent of the vote. The results of a simultaneous referendum showed that voters in the Central Asian state of some 6.5 million strongly preferred presidential rule, which would grant Japarov sweeping powers. According to the official results, more than 80 percent of voters backed a return to presidential rule, while only 10.8 percent supported the current parliamentary system. Nearly 5 percent voted for the third option, "against all."
Kyrgyzstan’s President Sadyr Japarov signed a decree 30 August 2021 setting the date for elections of deputies to the country’s parliament on 28 November 2021. Under the constitution and the new election law, the number of seats in the Jogorku Kenesh (Supreme Council), which constitutes the legislative body of Kyrgyzstan, and the conditions for being elected deputies were revised. At a meeting in July, the Kyrgyz parliament approved a bill which calls for the reduction of parliamentarians from 120 to 90, with 54 to be elected on the basis of proportional representation (political party candidate list), and 36 on the basis of a majority (independent candidates). Before the amendments, the parliament of Kyrgyzstan consisted of 120 deputies elected for a five-year term according to party lists.
Allies of Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov appeared set to win the parliamentary election by a landslide, according to early figures, further cementing his grip on the Central Asian nation with close ties to Russia and China. With half of ballots counted, opposition parties Butun Kyrgyzstan, Ata Meken and the Social Democrats had received 11.2 per cent, 6.4 per cent and 6.2 per cent of the vote respectively, with the rest split between a host of pro-presidential parties.
Kyrgyzstan's election commission has announced the final preliminary results of the parliamentary elections following the manual count of all ballots, with six parties set to enter the new legislature. According to the results released by the Central Election Commission (BShK) on 07 December 2021, three pro-government parties won seats in the Jogorku Kenesh (Supreme Council): Ata-Jurt (Fatherland) Kyrgyzstan, Yntymak (Harmony), and Ishenim (Trust). Butun (United) Kyrgyzstan, Alyans (Alliance), and Yiman Nuru (Ray of Faith) also passed the 5 percent threshold to get in. Butun Kyrgyzstan has been in the opposition, while the other two parties have been affiliated neither with the government nor the opposition. However, Alyans on December 6 announced it would side with the opposition in parliament. According to the preliminary results announced by the BShK on December 7, Ata-Jurt Kyrgyzstan won 17.3 percent of vote, Ishenim 13.63 percent, and Yntymak 10.99 percent in the November 28 elections. Butun Kyrgyzstan had 7.04 percent, Alyans 8.34 percent, and Yiman Nuru 6.15 percent.
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