Apparatchik ascendant

摘要

AS THE young man hesitated, golden au-tumn leaves drifted down onto the streets of Bishkek, the relaxed capital of Kyrgyzstan. "It's a choice between old and new. I can't decide," he explained, as he hovered outside the polling station. The choice was as unusual as it was difficult. Kyrgyzstan-a mountainous post-Soviet country of 6m people bordering China-was holding the first genuinely competitive presidential election in Central Asia, a region ruled by strongmen who typically romp home with close to 100% of the vote.