On October 31 Kyrgyzstan held their Presidential elections. Given the previous political instability in the country and potential for violence, the outcome of the elections was very important for the people of Kyrgyzstan and the future direction of the country.
It could also have a material impact on my portfolio due to my holding in Kentor Gold (who are trying to get the Andash project up and running) and was therefore closely followed.
Our preferred candidate, Almazbek Atambaev (the former Prime Minister), declared victory after 81.28% of the ballots had been counted. At the time he had scored 63.09% of the total votes, with the next closest rival Kamchibek Tashiev scoring 14.87%, followed my Adahan Madumarov in third place with 14.6%. To win the election it was a simple majority vote and if no candidate was able to get over 50% then the top two candidates would have gone to the polls again to ensure a clear winner.
Following the outcome I have been keeping on the news to watch for any evidence of violence following the result and so far everything seems to be ok. There has been a few articles saying that some people were unable to vote in certain parts of the country but the international monitors have reported that any irregularities would have been too small to affect the overall result.
The new President will take over in December and is considered a moderate who wants Kyrgyzstan to start mining/benefiting from its huge mineral wealth. The resource industry contributes a huge percentage of the country’s GDP and to grow wealth and prosperity for the people he realises that mining and foreign investment must be encouraged. Hopefully he remains true to his word and Kentor Gold can form part of the country’s future.
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