Atambayev has no plans to seek any positions after his presidential term ends
CHOLPON-ATA (Kyrgyzstan). July 24 (Interfax) - Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev said he has no plans to assume any positions after the end of his term because he has an allergy to all kinds of positions.
"I'd never want any position. I've always been a free man. I had to engage in politics willy-nilly," Atambayev said answering the questions reporters asked him during the traditional summer press conference on Monday.
He went on to explain that he had run a successful business before the family of first Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev decided to take that from him. "I had to sell the business for next to nothing and direct the money to politics. And I engaged in it [politics] willy-nilly. And now I want to create a business paradise in Kyrgyzstan so that business people won't have to go to parliament to defend their businesses," Atambayev said.
Atambayev added that he has "an allergy to positions". "But I will always be ready to [help] a new president or the government if they ask me to. If they don't, I have plenty of things to do," he said.
A foundation has been laid down in Kyrgyzstan in recent years such that no one can "praise a thief as a hero," Atambayev went on. "Kyrgyzstan needs honest politicians," he said.
When asked by reporters whether any politicians of those who are currently held in remand prisons and facing different charges (including Ata-Meken opposition party leader Omurbek Tekebayev charged with corruption and former parliamentarian Sadyr Zhaparov charged with organizing of public disorder) could be allowed to take part in the upcoming presidential election, Atambayev said that he "and lawyers had consulted on this subject".
"There is a law stating that those people located in places of permanent or temporary deprivation of liberty have the right to elect. But there have been no precedents when they were given the right to be elected," he said.
This subject needs to be sorted out, he added, noting that "a presidential candidate must have no criminal record".
Atambayev also said he did not rule out that in the future, Kyrgyzstan may introduce stricter criteria for presidential candidates because "an absurdity has begun as now people of different kinds are trying to obtain immunity for at least 2.5 months". He did not rule out either that "one day, the question of the health condition of presidential candidates, of a certificate of their mental health may be raised in the republic". "But it's too early to speak about it now," Atambayev said.
The Kyrgyz presidential election is due on October 15. Under the Kyrgyz constitution, president Atambayev's term ends on December 1.
