Nationalist politician Sadyr Japarov has won a landslide victory in Kyrgyzstan’s presidential election.

Japarov, who until last week was serving an 11-year jail term on kidnapping charges, was elected with 79% of the votes.

Footage filmed in Bishkek on Sunday (January 10) shows voters casting their vote.

This footage was filmed and produced 10 January 2021. Citizens of Kyrgyzstan today vote for the future head of state. The favorite of the race is Sadyr Zhaparov, who led the country after being released from jail during the October coup. He has already begun to concentrate power in his own hands and has planned a constitutional reform that could return Kyrgyzstan to authoritarianism. The first step in this direction was a referendum on the form of government in the country, which is held on the same day as the presidential elections. In Kyrgyzstan, polling stations have been open for several hours: citizens of the country choose the future president. These elections are extraordinary, the voting was scheduled after the early resignation of President Sooronbay Jeenbekov. The former head of state resigned in the middle of his term after the start of mass protests caused by the discontent of the population with the results of the parliamentary elections.