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US ally Kyrgyzstan holds Soviet-style election
A disputed election in strategic Kyrgyzstan, a tiny mountain republic at the very heart of Asia where the United States maintains an important air base, has returned President Kurmanbek Bakiyev to power with a Sovietesque 85 percent of the vote.
Opposition candidates cried foul and withdrew before the vote-counting was finished, while international observers have reported numerous election violations in Thursday's election.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which fielded 280 monitors, said "the conduct of election day was a disappointment" and said the election was marred by intimidation of opposition supporters, media bias, and reports of ballot-box stuffing instances of multiple voting.
"Sadly, this election did not show the progress we were hoping for and it again fell short of key standards Kyrgyzstan has committed to as a participating state of the OSCE," the official observer's report said Friday.