Kyrgyzstan will hold its next presidential election on November 19, a statement on President Almazbek Atambayev's website said today.
Unlike in other former Soviet countries in majority- Muslim Central Asia, where democracy is limited and elections usually a foregone conclusion, the vote Kyrgyzstan is preparing to hold will be hotly contested.
Atambayev, whose single term in office comes to an end at the beginning of December, met the top electoral official in the Central Asian country, and said the polls would take place "on the third Sunday of November".
"For the remaining nine months before the election, it is necessary to eliminate all shortcomings... And ensure the fully open and fair election of a new Head of State," it said.
Two ex-premiers have already been nominated by their parties as candidates, while an opposition party leader in the parliament has also said he will run.
This contrasts sharply with recent elections in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, where other candidates offered only token opposition for leaders Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov respectively.
But while mountainous Kyrgyzstan is the most democratic in the region it has also been the most politically volatile.
The country experienced two revolutions that unseated presidents in 2005 and 2010 followed by ethnic violence that killed over 400 people.
The party Atambayev is most closely affiliated with, the Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan (SDPK), has yet to nominate a candidate to compete in a race he is constitutionally barred from entering.
The SDPK has the most seats in the Kyrgyz parliament and is the only political party that has been part of every government coalition since Atambayev took office in 2011.
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