Nazarbayev’s gambit on Kyrgyzstan election chessboard: reasons for courting Omurbek Babanov
- Written by Farkhad Sharip
BISHKEK (TCA) — The recent visit to Kyrgyzstan by Uzbekistan’s President and the milestone agreements reached between the two countries were considered by many as the outgoing Kyrgyz President’s attempt to reinforce the position of his party’s candidate, Sooronbay Zheyenbekov, in the upcoming presidential vote. At the same time, Zheyenbekov’s main rival — Omurbek Babanov — seems to have secured the support of Central Asia’s political heavyweight — Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev. We are republishing this article by Farkhad Sharip on the issue, originally published by The Jamestown Foundation’s Eurasia Daily Monitor:
