Moscow, Sept 27, (dpa/GNA) – The parliament in the Central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan, voted by a large majority on Thursday to dissolve itself and hold early elections.
The country’s state news agency Kabar reported that 84 of a total of 90 members of parliament, voted in favour of the legislative initiative.
The early elections are to take place on November 30.
“This is the first time in Kyrgyzstan’s recent history that the MPs [members of parliament] themselves have taken the decision to dissolve the existing parliament ahead of schedule,” the agency’s report said.
In the years since independence, the country has been shaken by several upheavals.
The MPs justified the need for early parliamentary elections by noting that the previously scheduled date, in November 2026, would have been only one and a half months before the presidential elections. This would have led to additional budgetary expenditure and organizational problems for the electoral commission, they said.
Kyrgyzstan has a population of around 7 million. The current parliament was elected in 2021 after a serious political crisis which provoked violent clashes, which also led to the resignation of then president Sooronbai Jeenbekov.
The strongest party is the national conservative Ata-Shurt, with 15 seats. Experts accuse the country’s current president, Sadyr Japarov, of pursuing an increasingly authoritarian course.
GNA