Two Leaders Flee, One Steps Down Gracefully
Two Leaders Flee, One Steps Down Gracefully
Askar Akaev was selected for the newly-created post of president by the Supreme Soviet of Kyrgyzstan (then still part of the USSR) in October 1990. He was reelected in December 1995 and then October 2000.
After a decade and a half in power, Akaev fled the country as opposition protests came to a head in March 2005. He resigned in early April that year.
He was replaced by Kurmanbek Bakiev, who had formerly served under him as prime minister but by 2005 was part of the opposition movement. Appointed in an acting capacity, Bakiev was formally elected president in a national ballot in July 2005 with a resounding 89 per cent of the vote.
Initial enthusiasm for Bakiev soon faded, and his critics began to regard him as almost as bad as Akaev. A reconfigured opposition took to the streets again, and in March 2010 he was forced to flee the presidential building and then the country.
His replacement, Roza Otunbaeva, had served as foreign minister in the Akaev era, but like Bakiev later went into opposition. She was confirmed as interim president in the same June 2010 referendum that approved the constitution. Her transitional status barred her from standing for election, but she also showed no signs of wanting to alter this rule. She thus becomes the first Central Asian head of state to hand over the reins of power voluntarily.
