Hello and welcome to the Intelligence on Economist Radio. I'm your host, Jason Palmer.

Every weekday we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

No sooner had America's Civil War ended than racist militias, including the Ku Klux

Clan, sprang up. We speak to an author who wrestles with that dark legacy, finding

one of its protagonists in his own family tree. And check behind the couch cushions for

change. European citizenship could be yours. Some countries give so-called golden passports

to big money investors. That fills plenty of European coffers, but plenty of Europeans

say it brings in shady characters.

But first, a president who's whereabouts are unknown, parliamentary offices overrun by

protesters. Multiple opposition candidates vying to take the title of Prime Minister.

After a national election, confusion and chaos have overtaken the former Soviet state of

Kyrgyzstan, tucked between Kazakhstan and China. Central Asia is a region ruled by strongmen,

who typically get close to 100% of the vote. So three years ago, when Sudan by Jane Bekhov

was elected Kyrgyzstan's president, unaventfully, with 55%, it was hailed as the region's first

peaceful and democratic transfer of power. But even then, there were murmurs of electoral

misconduct. This time, the murmurs are a roar. The worrying absence of uncontested leadership

has turned a country where both China and Russia have interests into a tinderbox.

On Sunday, Kyrgyzstan went to the polls to elect a new parliament. And it was this event

that ended up propelling Kyrgyzstan into a bout of political chaos because all of the

opposition parties, and also many of the people of Kyrgyzstan simply didn't accept the results.

Joanna Lillis writes about Central Asia for the economist and is based in Kazakhstan.

They started to come in on Monday. When a preliminary count showed that pro-presidential

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