Kyrgyzstan's Japarov: Voters will decide who becomes president

Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov, in an interview with a local media outlet, discussed the upcoming election, changes in the energy sector, investments by Alexei Shirshov and personnel decisions. Saying his meetings with residents of Jalal-Abad region are part of his presidential duties rather than campaigning, Japarov said he has visited every district since the start of the year and will finish in mid-November. He said he has not urged anyone to vote for him, that the electoral system is now fully automated and electronic, and that no administrative resources will be used.

On energy, Japarov explained why 30 MW of electricity at Kambar-Ata was not being fed into the grid. The Kambar-Ata-2 plant, launched in 2009, could deliver only 90 MW because old power lines and transformers could not carry 120 MW, so a mining farm was installed on site. He said Shirshov's company also provided 715.505 million soms in aid, in addition to the $430 million he had mentioned, and that the 137 billion som debt of the national grid operator NESK, accumulated up to 2020, would be fully repaid by the end of this year.