Met with a surge in demonstrations and denounced as rigged, Kyrgyzstan’s October 4 parliamentary elections have resulted in a leadership crisis with opposition groups seizing control of parliament. In an interview with Al Jazeera, IRI Regional Director for Eurasia Stephen Nix discusses Kyrgyzstan’s political crisis and identifies the causes at the root of the uprising, including the government’s mismanagement of COVID-19, unemployment, corruption and President Sooronbay Jeenbekov’s continued consolidation of power.
