Convicted Kidnapper Ascends to Power in Landslide Victory as New Kyrgyzstan President

Triggered by a popular uprise against the previous government, a populist politician and convicted kidnapper won via a landslide victory on Sunday in a snap presidential election in Kyrgyzstan.

According to the central electoral commission of the country, the landslide victory winner of the presidential election, Sadyr Japarov, got 80 percent of the vote.

In addition, more than 80 of the voters also supported the proposal made by Japarov to redistribute political power away from Parliament into the hands of the president.

Convicted for Kidnapping a Governor

The 52-year-old, Japarov, was still in jail in September, as he is still serving a long term for orchestrating the kidnapping of a provincial governor, but it is a charge that he denounced as politically motivated.

However, a violent upheaval that erupted in October of 2020 over a disputed parliamentary election sprung Mr. Japarov from a prison cell to the seat of the prime minister.

He assumed the interim presidency a few days later before resigning to run for the said office.

The main investigative body of the country canceled right away the conviction of the now Kyrgyzstan president, Japarov, The New York Times reported.

Criticized by his detractors as a corrupt nationalist with links to organized crime, Japarov tried to consolidated society behind his campaign.

As of late Sunday, reports of voting irregularities scattered, and at the time the election authorities mentioned that the turnout was estimated at 39 percent.

During a news conference on Sunday night in the capital, Bishkek shared that Kyrgyzstan needs political stability now most of all.

The Kyrgyzstan President also shared during the news conference, that he calls on opponents to unite and the minority should submit to the majority.

The landslide victory winner also added that he came to power during challenging times as there is a crisis everywhere, The Associated Press reported.

A Central Asia expert based in Moscow, Arkady Dubnov described Japarov as a populist Robin Hood figure who came to power on the promise of giving the public a quickie relief.

When he spoke on Sunday to a Russian radio station, Ekho Moskvy, Dubnov emphasized that more upheaval was inevitable in Kyrgyzstan.

The Central Asia expert also shared that the way how the whole system of power in Kyrgyzstan was whipped and uprooted in just 48 hours shows the instability of the government institutions in the country.

A landlocked former Soviet republic and home of 6.3 million individuals, Kyrgyzstan has suffered recurrent political strife as three of its presidents, which includes the current Kyrgyzstan president Japarov, and its predecessor Sooronbay Jeenbekov, have been toppled in violent revolts since the independence of the country from Moscow in 1991, AFP reported via MSN.

During the most recent political turmoil, protesters have captured the main government building that houses Parliament and the offices of the president.

Triggered by credible allegations of widespread vote-buying in the parliament election last fall, a violent mob stormed through the infrastructure which left piles of debris behind.

After the said protests, the Russian President, Vladimir v. Putin shared that the main problem of the country, Kyrgyzstan, was that its elites were trying to fit their domestic policy into the mold of a number of Western countries.