World Brief
Voters in the central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan cast their ballots on Sunday in the first presidential election since a violent uprising in 2010 toppled ex-President Kurmanbek Bakiyev.
Almazbek Atambayev, the country’s former prime minister, was leading the field with nearly 70 percent of the vote, according to preliminary reports by ABC News. Kamchybek Tashiev, the leader of the Ata-Jurt party, was second with 14.5 percent of the vote.
Sixteen candidates are vying for the president’s seat in the impoverished, former Soviet nation of around 5 million.
Over 60 percent of the nation’s 3 million eligible voters cast ballots, election officials said after polls closed, according to ABC News.
Radio Free Europe (RFE) reported that there were no major fraud or violent incidents during the election.
“I hope it will be decided in the first round—that would be less of a torment for people. We'll see what happens,” Atambaev said, according to RFE.
By the end of the day, former Parliament speaker and top security official, Adakhan Madumarov, accused the country’s election board of committing “unprecedented violations,” according to the news agency, adding, “We have never seen such mayhem and disorder before.” He earlier said that he expects to win the elections.
