Almazbek Atambayev, Kyrgyzstan Opposition Candidate, Withdraws, Claims Fraud

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan — Election officials in Kyrgyzstan said early Friday that partial results from the presidential election give incumbent Kurmanbek Bakiyev an overwhelming lead of around 90 percent of votes counted.

The Central Election Commission released the results based on returns from more than one-quarter of the 2,330 polling stations in this mountainous Central Asian nation.

The main opposition candidate, Almazbek Atambayev, has dismissed Thursday's election as fraudulent and called for a rerun. Atambayev claimed widespread ballot-stuffing and the intimidation of opposition election monitors. He also charged that official turnout of nearly 80 percent was inflated.

Atambayev won just over 5 percent of votes counted, according to the election commission's data.

The dispute over the legitimacy of the election has set the stage for nationwide protests in Kyrgyzstan, which hosts a U.S. air base crucial to operations in Afghanistan and is the focus of competition between Washington and Moscow for regional influence.

Political turmoil has wracked Kyrgyzstan – a poor country of 5 million on China's western border – since 2005, when street protesters drove the Soviet-era leader out of office and ushered Bakiyev to power.

Bakiyev, 59, had campaigned on a platform of stability, appealing to the electorate's desire to see an end to unrest.

But the opposition accuses Bakiyev of cheating in the largely peaceful vote and say he is taking the country – once viewed as the region's beacon of democracy – down the path of authoritarianism.

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Hours before the polls closed, Atambayev announced he was taking himself out of the running in protest, though legal issues prevented him from officially withdrawing.

"We believe these elections to be illegitimate," Atambayev told hundreds of supporters outside his headquarters after the polls closed.

"We will not recognize this president," he said of Bakiyev, who was widely expected to win a new five-year term.

But plans for a protest march to the Central Election Commission late Thursday fizzled. Atambayev told reporters that leaders of the parties that make up the opposition coalition had urged their supporters to disperse, claiming authorities were planning to provoke violence and then blame it on the opposition.

But Atambayev said Bakiyev's opponents would press their fight, saying the government "wants to rule the people by theft."

Bakiyev has largely lived up to promises to increase government spending and boost salaries and pensions. But the effect of the global financial crisis on Russia and neighboring Kazakhstan has had a devastating impact on Kyrgyzstan's economy, which relies heavily on remittances and trade.

Under a recent deal to extend the lease of the Manas U.S. air base, Kyrgyzstan will receive $60 million in annual rent, more than triple the previous amount, plus a further $120 million in investment and aid.

Bakiyev has also secured more than $2 billion in aid and loans from Russia, widely seen as an attempt by Moscow to pressure Bakiyev to close down the Manas base.

His government ordered U.S. forces out of Manas by August, but later reversed itself.

If elected, Bakiyev is expected to continue courting support from both the U.S. and Russia.