Addressing the first session of the Jogorku Kenesh, President Roza Otunbayeva outlined the immediate goals and objectives for the parliament, and urged its newly elected members to put the country’s needs above personal ambitions and party interests. Otunbayeva also confirmed her confidence in parliamentary democracy, and highlighted the achievements of the interim government.
After a one-month delay, the newly elected Kyrgyz parliament will sit for its first session on November 10.
Following the U.S. Department of Defense’s recent decision to award controversial Mina Corporation with a $315 million contract to provide jet fuel to the U.S. Air Force base in Kyrgyzstan, the Kyrgyz government is urging the United States to suspend its dealings with the company.
Only 35 percent of the Kyrgyz electorate will be represented in the new Jogorku Kenesh, according to the final parliamentary election results announced by the Central Elections Committee (CEC) on November 1.
Felix Kulov, chairman of the Ar-Namys Party, is calling for a coalition government of the country’s leading political parties, including those that lost the parliamentary elections, as well as the election winners.
Former president Kurmanbek Bakiyev has been formally charged as an accomplice in the 2002 Aksy shootings. Six people died and 28 people were wounded when Kyrgyz police opened fire on peaceful demonstrators in Kyrgyzstan’s Aksy region in May 2002.
In a development that could foreshadow the end of the current political stalemate after the October 10 parliamentary elections, two Kyrgyz political parties have agreed to join forces in a possible coalition.
The situation in Kyrgyzstan deteriorated over the weekend as hundreds of Ata Jurt Party supporters rallied against the government for failing to announce the results of this month’s parliamentary election and for an alleged attack on the party’s leader.
Political gridlock in Kyrgyzstan continued today as the chairman of the Central Elections Committee, Akylbek Saryev, announced he will not make public the final parliamentary election results until all discrepancies uncovered in the voting records are thoroughly reviewed.
Chairman of the Central Elections Committee Akylbek Saryev dismissed the idea today that the Kyrgyz government will conduct a repeat of this month’s parliamentary elections if serious mistakes are found in the vote-counting verification process.
