Protests in Kyrgyzstan after runoff elections marred by alleged abuses

By Kadyr Toktogulov
ASSOCIATED PRESS
1:08 p.m. March 15, 2005

JALAL-ABAD, Kyrgyzstan – Protesters held a regional and a district governor captive for a second day in western Kyrgyzstan on Tuesday, and thousands rallied in the south to protest alleged election fraud and demand that President Askar Akayev resign.

The opposition accuses authorities of widespread abuses in Sunday's parliamentary runoff elections in which Akayev secured an overwhelmingly loyal parliament. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said the vote had significant problems.

In a statement Tuesday, the U.S. Embassy in Kyrgyzstan said the runoff "fell short of Kyrgyzstan's OSCE and international commitments to fully meet the accepted criteria for democratic elections." <snip>

Late Monday, about 3,000 protesters occupied a regional government building in Talas, about 250 miles west of the capital Bishkek, and held the regional governor and the head of the Bakay-Ata district hostage, said Interior Ministry spokesman Nurdin Jangarayev. <snip>

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20050315-1308-kyrgyzstan-elections.html

Obviously, voters in the post-Soviet states don't tolerate election fraud.