Three main contenders are vying for victory in the vote, which pits front-runner Almazbek Atambayev against two popular nationalist politicians — Kamchibek Tashiyev and Adakhan Madumarov.
Outgoing President Roza Otunbayeva, a seasoned diplomat who served as ambassador in Washington and London and has been running the country as interim leader since 2010, will step down later this year to make way for the election winner. That sets the stage for the first peaceful transition of power in the economically struggling ex-Soviet nation’s history.
Kyrgyzstan, an impoverished nation of around 5 million people on China’s western fringes, is home to both US and Russian military air bases, making its fortunes the subject of lively international interest.
Sunday’s vote is the culmination of a movement for political reform away from the strong authoritarian model that has prevailed in the country since independence in 1991.
Over the last two decades, elections have been purely formal exercises designed to lend a threadbare veil of legitimacy to the ruling elite. Former strongman leader Kurmanbek Bakiyev and his predecessor, mathematician Askar Akayev, left office only after being literally chased out by angry mobs.
Speaking after casting her ballot at a music college in the capital, Bishkek, Otunbayeva said the election would consolidate the parliamentary system adopted under constitutional reforms approved last year.
“What is important is that we have chosen parliamentary governance in our country,” Otunbayeva told The Associated Press, speaking in English. “People will choose the route of freedom — freedom of speech, freedom of assembly.”
While the election has been hailed by authorities as a victory for democracy, many are concerned that the vote could lay bare interregional divisions. Atambayev’s following is mainly in the north, while his nationalist opponents’ main base of support in the south.
Southern Kyrgyzstan, which lies along a major route for heroin trafficked northwards from nearby Afghanistan, has seen waves of political unrest over the past year and was the site of ethnic clashes in which hundreds of people, mainly minority ethnic Uzbeks, were killed.
Electioneering has been relatively low-key and voters at the Kyrgyz National University in Bishkek early Sunday seemed largely fatalistic about the outcome.
“These elections are important for the politicians, but not really for the simple people,” said 19-year-old journalism student Manas Aslanbekov. “It is clear who is going to win, it is the person who has the most money.”
