German papers on Central Asian elections

And again, the German press is pretty up-to-date.

- The 'Financial Times Germany' has a good feature on both Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan:
“Polls overshadowed by criticism (…); ‘There is no hope for democratic elections anymore, said a spokesman of the Islamic Rennaissance Party in Tajikistan.’ (…) [As for Kyrgyzstan], it is widely held that the authorities will present the public a widely unknown individual from the security service to succeed Akayev’”

- The German ‘Die Welt’ has a similar thread:
“This successor could be modelled similar to Putin’s rise to presidency.”

- The Swiss ‘news.ch’ service speaks of a “‘climate of intimidation in Kyrgyzstan’ (…) According to statements from the CEC, voter turnout is not likely to exceed 50 percent’”

All of the reports are rather sullen. Let’s see what the Monday papers say.

See the extended entry for yesterday's German news stories.

- The Saturday print edition of Austria’s ‘Kurier’ has an upbeat report:
“The protests grow on a daily basis in Bishkek, and have now reached other cities of the poor mountainous country”

- The left-leaning 'TAZ' has a rather pessimistic outlook:
“Despite protests in the run up to the elections, analysts do not see the administration as being in real danger”

- The Austrian ‘Standard’ reports on growing protests
“Dshaparow called on his followers to vote against all other candidates in their constituencies. ‘My disqualification will cause more trouble for the authorities’, says Dshaparow. ‘They have lost the trust of the people.’

- The ex-communist East-German paper ‘Neues Deutschland’ has a well researched article:
“Interestingly, Russian foreign minster Ivanov did not only welcome Akayev in Moscow, but also ex-prime minister Kurmanbek Bakiev, who will run for presidency in October.”

- The business daily ‘Handelsblatt’ puts the Kyrgyz and the Tajik poll into a wider context:
“Revolutions in the CIS startle Kremlin” .. and “Roses, Tulips, Carnations, all flowers wither” (well, it rhymes in German)