Democracy in Kyrgyzstan

My project brought me to Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, the week after elections to replace the government ousted in April.

For those of you concerned about the recent election results in the US, consider this: in Kyrgyzstan, 27 parties registered to participate in the election. There was a threshold of 5% of the total vote for a party to receive seats in parliament. Of the 27 parties, the top vote-getter won only 8% of the total. The next two parties took around 7%. This means a coalition of parties will need to agree to work together.

These pictures were taken outside the Kyrgyz "white house" where their parliament sits. The people are protesting the fact that the "winning" party supports the president that got kicked out in April. The top photo was taken on Saturday, and the lower photo was taken on Tuesday.

It's easy to take a smooth transition of power for granted, but let's hope that Kyrgyzstan can find a way. It's hard to make progress without a stable government.