Kyrgyzstan's New Leader Sworn In

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Kyrgyzstan's New Leader Sworn In

President Atambaev shares inauguration ceremony stage with his predecessor as head of state – a first for Kyrgyzstan and Central Asia generally.

Almazbek Atambaev is sworn in as president of Kyrgyzstan on December 1. (Photo: Sultan Dosaliev/Kyrgyz presidential press office)

Almazbek Atambaev with his predecessor Roza Otunbaeva, in a historic peaceful handover of power. (Photo: Sultan Dosaliev/Kyrgyz presidential press office)

The new Kyrgyz leader has faces numerous challenges which include forging a sense of national unity as well as reviving the economy. (Photo: Sultan Dosaliev/Kyrgyz presidential press office)

The inauguration ceremony lasted no more than an hour, with pomp and circumstance kept to a minimum. (Photo: Sultan Dosaliev/Kyrgyz presidential press office)

Atambaev is not an outsider – he served under Otunbaeva in the interim administration of the last year-and-a-half. Many commentators believe voters picked him as a known quantity and the safest choice. (Photo: Sultan Dosaliev/Kyrgyz presidential press office)

Roza Otunbaeva steps down with grace. Her two predecessors, Askar and Akaev and Kurmanbek Bakiev suffered the indignity of being chased out of the country. (Photo: Sultan Dosaliev/Kyrgyz presidential press office)

Over 1,500 people attended the swearing-in ceremony in Bishkek. The foreign leaders there did not include top officials from Russia, a key ally. (Photo: Sultan Dosaliev/Kyrgyz presidential press office)

Atambaev and Otunbaeva. (Photo: Sultan Dosaliev/Kyrgyz presidential press office)

In the first democratic handover of power in any Central Asian state, Almazbek Atambaev was sworn in as president of Kyrgyzstan on December 1.

Elected on October 30, Atambaev previously served as prime minister in the interim administration of 2010-11. In a nod to the political turbulence, ethnic violence and economic difficulties of the last year or so, and the challenges lying ahead, he called for unity and promised that life would get better in three or four years’ time. (See also New Kyrgyz Leader to Reach Out to Opponents.)

Atambaev takes over from Roza Otunbaeva, the first head of state in the region to step away from power voluntarily. As acting president following the ousting of Kurmanbek Bakiev in April last year, Otunbaeva was not legally entitled to stand in this election – but then again, most other Central Asian leaders have changed the rules as they go along to retain their grip on power.

Although Atambaev is seen as close to Moscow, Russian president Dmitry Medvedev did not come for the inauguration ceremony, and nor did the man expected to attend in his place, presidential office chief Sergei Naryshkin.

The arrival of a lower-level delegation from such a key strategic partner raised a few eyebrows. Some commentators believe the Russians stayed away because Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili was present at the event. Moscow’s relationship with Saakashvili went from cool to frosty after a brief war in 2008.

Timur Toktonaliev is IWPR editor for Kyrgyzstan.

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