SULEYMAN IMANBAEV

, chairman of the Kyrgyz Central Electoral Commission initially denied that any procedural violations had taken place during the voting. Following the release of the OSCE/ODIHR’s preliminary assessment, he conceded that there had been violations, but criticized the group for being excessively negative and, in time honored FSU tradition, accused it of having bowed to pressure from unnamed political forces. Then, in an apparent effort to lend the OSCE/ODIHR’s charges even more credibility, Kyrgyz police detained three opposition election observers who had planned to testify about the alleged fraud.