A Guarantor of Fair Elections

Sometimes, we are need very little to be happy. It simply requires that, during days decisive for the nation's fate, there emerges at least one person capable of speaking the truth and demonstrating the readiness to undertake the most vital, momentous task for Kyrgyzstan: uniting all the country's opposition forces to ensure the upcoming presidential election is legitimate and fair.

We all love the fairy tale about the Knight and the Dragon; we all cherish and await the hero capable of slaying the Dragon.

Yet, in the context of today’s Kyrgyzstan,a nation already caught into the trap of authoritarianism, the true hero will be the politician who exerts every effort to lead the people out of this state.

Omurbek Suvanaliev has already made a series of critical statements regarding the country's political situation. He has done so amidst the regime's deepening twilight—a time when few dare even speak of these matters, and when leading politicians and heavyweights have either been barred from the upcoming election through legal proceedings or intimidated into silence.
For Sadyr Japarov and his supporters, the most important and prudent course of action today is to refrain from any attempt to exclude this politician from the upcoming election.

If they do this, the incumbent president will still win, but by securing more than 50% votes, just as happens in any democratic nation holding fair, contested elections. Meanwhile, "Cattani" would likely garner 20 percent of the vote, positioning himself as a leading—if not the primary—contender for the presidency in the future. If Suvanaliev will barred from the election, then—even if the "electors" fabricate a result of 95 percent or higher for the president (a standard practice for stagnating authoritarian regimes steadily drifting toward the North Korean model of governance)— it was  a very bad victory for the current authorities and the country as a whole.

Suvanaliev’s participation, on the other hand, will legitimate to the election.
He could emerge as a hero who saves the country, its people, and its government from the encroaching dictatorship.