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Eurasia
September 22, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 21
country of six million officially got under way on September 10 with a total of 13 candidates reg- istered for the election. The elections will test Kyrgyzstan’s commitment to democracy. The country's two previous regimes, excluding Roza Otunbayeva’s interim government in 2010, were toppled by violent revolutions, bringing down the administrations of Askar Akayev in 2005 and Kur- manbek Bakiyev in 2010.
Atambayev’s recent crackdowns on opposition members and media, including a number of ar- rests, raise concerns that Kyrgyzstan is moving away from the democratic path set out follow-
ing the revolutions and may face another violent regime change, which some analysts say could potentially cement the country as a failed state. The ex-Soviet country has already fallen back into the category of consolidated authoritarian regime,
according to Freedom House’s Nations in Transit 2017 report.
Nonetheless, Atambayev stressed Kyrgyzstan’s commitment to democracy at the United Nations General Assembly on September 20.
"Peace, harmony, and stability - these are our main achievements of the last years. The country is changing before our eyes. Today, the Kyrgyz Republic is the first and the only country in post- Soviet Central Asia with parliamentary democ- racy,” Atambayev told the assembly.
"I am proud of my freedom-loving people, who have staged two national revolutions against dictatorial regimes over the last 12 years and have proven that the people are the only possible source of power in the Kyrgyz Republic,” he added.
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