Akayev orders probe over vote protests

KYRGYZSTAN President Askar Akayev yesterday ordered an investigation into alleged violations in the recent election voting that has triggered mass demonstrations and partial takeovers by protesters in four cities.

More than 17,000 people rallied against Mr Akayev, calling for his resignation, and some of them took over government buildings in at least four cities.

Mr Akayev ordered the commission and court “to pay particular attention to those districts where election results provoked extreme public reaction and tell people openly who is right and who is wrong.”

“The (election) disputes need to be solved fully and fairly,” said Mr Akayev, who added that the results of the investigations must be made public “so that all speculations and accusations of arbitrariness will be removed.”

The unrest began early this month to protest alleged election breaches in the February 27 parliamentary polls. It intensified after the subsequent March 13 run-offs that the opposition, EU countries and the US said were seriously flawed, a charge denied by the government.

The opposition has charged that Mr Akayev, who is prohibited from seeking another term, planned to manipulate the vote to gain a compliant legislature that would amend the constitution to allow a third term. The 60-year-old leader has denied wanting another term.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry condemned the protests, saying “extremist forces must not be allowed to use political instability to create a threat to the democratic foundations of Kyrgyz statehood.”

It also rebuked the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe for its critical evaluation of the elections, urging it to “be more responsible in formulating their conclusions to prevent destructive elements from using these assessments to justify their lawless actions.”

Yesterday’s biggest demonstration drew about 15,000 people to the southern city of Jalal-Abad. There were no reports of violence a day after demonstrators there burned down much of the police headquarters, freed 70 detained protesters and occupied the governor’s office.

Protesters dumped stones on the runway at Jalal-Abad airport, making it difficult for security forces to rush in reinforcements to quell the protests, which some analysts have compared to peaceful revolutions that swept two other former Soviet republics - Georgia and Ukraine.