KYRGYZSTAN….

The country’s first multiparty parliamentary elections showed that the Soviet-nostalgic left is the president’s main opposition. With run-offs still to come in some races, it seems clear that the communists will have a plurality but almost surely will not control the legislature. Pro-government candidates, running under a variety of labels, should be able to form a majority. The results are a sign that government manipulation, while real enough, was not as heavy handed (and certainly not as effective) as opposition leaders had claimed.