22 TheEconomistNovember 14th 2020
1A
merican diplomatswarned of an “at-
tempt by organised crime groups to ex-
ert influence over politics and elections”.
The acting mayor of the capital city stepped
down in protest at a “wave of ochlocracy”—
mob rule. mps complained that they were
being coerced into acceding to an illegiti-
mate power grab. A candidate for prime
minister was knocked unconscious when
thugs attacked a political rally.
Yet the man who has benefited most
from the tumult in Kyrgyzstan, Sadyr Japa-
rov, denies that his meteoric rise, from pri-
son to the presidency in ten days, has any
sinister underpinning. It was popular prot-
ests that brought him to power, he says.
Those who claim “that I’m a bandit, that I
came out of prison and seized power” are
simply political rivals trying to smear him,
he insisted this week in an interview with
The Economistover WhatsApp. Far from try-
ing to hijack Kyrgyzstan’s shaky democra-
cy, he intends to “establish justice, transpa-
rency, honesty and legality, and eradicate
corruption at the root”, he said.In early October crowds protesting
about tainted parliamentary elections
sprang Mr Japarov and several other politi-
cians from prison. When the prime minis-
ter resigned to appease the protesters, Mr
Japarov got mps from the outgoing parlia-
ment to award him the job, though there
were rows about quorums and proxy votes.
He then persuaded the president to resign
and the speaker of parliament to decline
the role of acting president, which there-
fore fell to Mr Japarov instead.
Mr Japarov next convinced mps to delay
fresh elections for parliament, to allow for
a presidential poll in January first—to the
consternation of many officials and politi-cal parties. As acting president he would
not be allowed to stand, so he plans to re-
sign, handing the reins to an ally he has
helped install as speaker of parliament.
And he wants to amend the constitution to
strengthen the presidency and reduce the
clout of parliament.
Mr Japarov, a former mp, rose to promi-
nence by campaigning for the nationalisa-
tion of Kumtor, a Canadian-owned gold
mine. He has twice been convicted of
crimes in connection with his political ac-
tivism: once for leading a crowd that
stormed the grounds of the White House,
which houses parliament and the presi-
dent’s office, and once for orchestrating the
kidnapping of a local official as part of a
protest, although he was not present at the
time and denied any involvement. He is
more comfortable speaking Kyrgyz than
Russian, which sets him apart from the
Russophone elite. His nationalism goes
down well in a country that fears becoming
an economic dependency of neighbouring
China and has suffered strife between the
Kyrgyz majority and the Uzbek minority.
The uprising that brought Mr Japarov to
power is the third since 2005. Although the
mountainous country of 6m is sometimes
described as the only democracy in Central
Asia, in practice it has run through a series
of presidents whose behaviour gradually
became more autocratic until they were
turfed from office by public protests. With
politics in constant turmoil and competingPolitics in KyrgyzstanA crowd-sourced commander-in-chief
ALMATY
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