MOSCOW: Four opposition parties on Monday jointly called for the results of Kyrgyzstan’s parliamentary elections to be annulled and redone due to alleged voter fraud.

Election observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) also expressed concern due to a roughly20-minute breakdown in the counting of online votes on Sunday. The case needs to be resolved, said observer Audrey Glover.

The OSCE observers praised the plurality of the vote, in which roughly 3.6 million people were eligible to select from 21 parties. However, they criticized the concentration of power in the hands of President Sadyr Zhaparov and a restriction of democratic freedoms. Zhaparov, 52, changed the impoverished former Soviet state from a parliamentary republic back to a presidential one via a referendum in April, thus expanding his powers.

With almost all ballots counted from Sunday’s elections, the ruling national-conservative party Ata-Zhurt received 16.8 per cent of the vote.

Parties loyal to the government, Ishenim (Trust) and Yntymak (Agreement), received 13.2 per cent and 10.6 per cent, respectively.

The opposition party Alliance scored 8 per cent.

Six parties managed to enter parliament.

In October 2020, there was violent unrest following a disputed parliamentary election. The vote was repeated as a result. – dpa