The FINANCIAL — BISHKEK. Kyrgyzstan’s parliament has passed a no-confidence motion against the government of Prime Minister Sapar Isakov amid an apparent power struggle between President Sooronbai Jeenbekov and his predecessor, Almazbek Atambaev.
According to the Kyrgyz Constitution, the final decision rests with Jeenbekov, who can either dismiss the government or overrule parliament and let the cabinet stay.
The vote, which passed with 105 votes out of 120, was initiated by a group of opposition lawmakers, in what is seen as another sign of tension between Jeenbekov, who was sworn in in November, and Atambaev, according to RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service.
Atambaev kept a low profile for several months after leaving office in November 2017, but he has publicly criticized Jeenbekov on several occasions following his election as head of the ruling Social Democratic Party on March 31.
Isakov, 39, is a close ally of Atambaev and took over the Kyrgyz government in August.
Earlier in April, Jeenbekov dismissed Abdil Segizbaev, the chief of the State Committee for National Security, and Prosecutor-General Indira Joldubaeva, who are also Atambaev allies and had long been criticized for a crackdown on opposition politicians and independent journalists.
Kyrgyzstan, a Central Asian country of 6 million that hosts a Russian military base, has been volatile since gaining independence in 1991, with political disputes erupting into violent revolts in 2005 and 2010.
Atambaev, who now chairs the Social Democratic Party, the leader of a ruling parliamentary coalition, had backed Jeenbekov in the presidential election but started criticizing him this month in a sign of a rift between the two.
