Crossroads Asia | Politics | Central Asia

Kyrgyz Presidential Election Set for January 2027, Candidates Start to Step Forward

So far, incumbent President Sadyr Japarov and Omurbek Suvanaliev – a politician and former minister of internal affairs – have announced their intentions to run. 

Last week, Kyrgyzstan’s parliament, the Zhogorku Kenesh, officially set a date for the next presidential election: January 27, 2027. The country’s Central Election Commission (CEC) then opened the door for formal nominations.

So far, incumbent President Sadyr Japarov and Omurbek Suvanaliev – a politician and former minister of internal affairs – have announced their intentions to run. 

In August, Japarov announced that he would seek a second term, something his political surrogates have been floating for some time. Japarov was elected, formally, in January 2021 after rising from literal prison to power amid the October 2020 unrest. At the time, Kyrgyzstan’s constitution mandated a single six-year presidential term. A referendum that took place at the same time as the presidential election in 2021 ushered in what critics called the “Khanstitution,” which provides for two five-year terms for the presidency. 

In February 2026, Kyrgyzstan’s Constitutional Court clarified that Japarov’s current term does count as his first.

Japarov confirmed his ambition to seek a second term in an interview in which he also revealed that he’d initially planned for his former ally and former head of Kyrgyzstan’s State Committee for National Security, Kamchybek Tashiev, to ascend to the presidency. Japarov claimed he’d told Tashiev, “Be prepared, cleanse your circle, educate your people… Then I see: he’s not ready.”

Tashiev was convicted of a coup attempt in July, but spared a prison sentence. Prosecutors sought a harsher punishment on appeal only to have the charges reclassified and the sentence lessened further in September. He long denied any ambition to run for president. A month before his abrupt February dismissal, Tashiev responded to mounting rumors that he would seek the presidency by saying, “Many have tried and continue to try to sow discord between us, claiming that I aspire to the presidency. But this is not true… I do not intend to overthrow Sadyr Nurgoyevich [Japarov]… In this life, only death can separate us.”

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