Another Post-Soviet Revolt

THE LATEST uprising against autocracy in the former Soviet Union is not proceeding as smoothly -- or as peacefully -- as its predecessors. In the small, mountainous country of Kyrgyzstan, which is squeezed between Central Asia and China, opposition forces armed with clubs and molotov cocktails stormed government buildings and an airport in the second-largest city Monday. By yesterday order was reportedly restored, but the opposition appeared to control the southern half of the country and was demanding the resignation of President Askar Akayev, a former Soviet apparatchik who has ruled the country since before it gained independence. Mr. Akayev provoked the rebellion by staging parliamentary elections that international observers said were unfair. His opposition, however, won't succeed in replicating the democratic revolutions that followed such fraud in Ukraine and Georgia unless it can control its militants and pursue negotiations.

Mr. Akayev once styled himself as the democratic modernizer of his country, a Thomas Jefferson for Central Asia. His declining popularity over many years in office and the deep and corrupt involvement of his family in the Kyrgyz economy seem to have changed his mind. He had himself reelected in 2000 in a ballot that Western observers said was rigged; Mr. Akayev was reported to have won 74 percent of the vote. Barred by the constitution from running for reelection later this year, he put a son and daughter on the ballot in the two-round parliamentary vote that ended March 13 while disqualifying leaders of the opposition. The reported results were once again lopsided: All but six of the 75 seats were awarded to the government. Observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe reported abuses such as vote-buying, multiple voting and one-sided access to the media.

Opposition leaders want to force Mr. Akayev from office because they suspect he may be preparing to use his new parliamentary majority to amend the constitution so that he can remain in office. Failing that, he may try, as did Ukraine's former president, to install a crony as successor. Violence, however, will only justify a government crackdown. Western governments -- including the United States, which maintains a military base in Kyrgyzstan for operations in Afghanistan -- have properly urged negotiations between the government and opposition, which could lead to a democratic solution. But as in Ukraine, one outside power -- Russia, which has its own military base in the country -- is aggressively betting on a strengthened autocracy. Moscow's observers cynically proclaimed the elections free and fair, and official Russian propaganda is portraying the opposition as quasi-terrorists seeking to stage a coup. Russian President Vladimir Putin would convert Kyrgyzstan into a Kremlin colony that fully embraces his authoritarian model. He should not be allowed to succeed.