Watch Nationalists take narrow lead in tight Kyrgyz poll

Nationalists take narrow lead in tight Kyrgyz poll
Early results in Kyrgyzstan's parliamentary election show a narrow lead for the opposition nationalist party Ata Zhurt.

The poll was held under a new constitution intended to make the country a parliamentary democrac
Members of its leadership worked under President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who was ousted in a mass uprising in April.

The pro-government Social Democrats and four other parties passed the 5% mark required to gain seats in parliament.

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Kyrgyzstan Turmoil

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Desperate flight of ethnic Uzbeks
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Analysts say no party has an overall majority so parties will have to unite to form a coalition government.

Sunday's election comes just months after 400 people died in inter-ethnic violence in the south of the country.

Turnout was 56% nationwide and even higher in the southern city of Osh, which saw some of the worst of last June's clashes between the Kyrgyz majority and ethnic Uzbeks.

Coalition cabinet
In all, 29 parties are competing for 120 seats in parliament.

Early results suggest that coalition-building will be needed to form a parliamentary majority with the right to select a prime minister.

The BBC's Rayhan Demytrie in Bishkek says the emergence of the Ata Zhurt party as a frontrunner will surprise many in Kyrgyzstan.

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Analysis


Rayhan Demytrie
BBC News, Bishkek
The big question now is what kind of coalition will emerge in Kyrgyzstan?

Will it be led by the frontrunner, the nationalist Ata Zurt party which wants to go back to a presidential form of government and shut down the US military base.

One of the party leaders infamously said that no other ethnicity in Kyrgyzstan can be equal to Kyrgyz.

Or will the coalition be led by the Social Democrats, whose leader was one of the top members of Kyrgyzstan's provisional government that came to power following a mass uprising in April.

A lot will depend on the party that came third - Respublika. It might become a kingmaker in this parliamentary vote.

The party has strong backing in the south among ethnic Kyrgyz and it wants to go back to a presidential form of government.

In late June the country approved a new constitution that changed the form of government from a presidential to a parliamentary system.

It followed the ousting of the former president in April.
Coppied by http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11511579

Watches Kyrgyz vote in landmark poll amid fears of violence

Kyrgyz vote in landmark poll amid fears of violence


Poll organisers are hoping the vote goes without a hitch
People in Kyrgyzstan are voting in a landmark parliamentary election, the first since 400 people died in inter-ethnic violence.

Twenty-nine parties fielding over 3,000 candidates are competing for 120 seats.

Six or seven parties are expected to dominate, although none is expected to easily win a majority of seats.

Authorities have vowed that the elections will take place without a renewal of the violence that hit the south of the country in June.

Continue reading the main story
Kyrgyzstan Turmoil

Desperate flight of ethnic Uzbeks
Kyrgyzstan's anger boils over
Kyrgyzstan vote: 'We need change'
Q&A: Kyrgyzstan's ethnic violence
Polling stations across the country opened at 0800 local time (0200 GMT) and will close at 2000 (1400 GMT).

The BBC's Rayhan Demetrie, in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, says the level of participation and the unpredictability of the outcome make the election significantly different from every other election that has ever taken place in Central Asia.

The vote is the first to be held under a new constitution adopted in a June referendum that changed the form of government from a presidential system to a parliamentary democracy.

The country's former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev was ousted following a popular uprising in April.
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watch Kyrgyz vote in historic parliamentary election

Kyrgyz vote in historic parliamentary election


A Kyrgyz policeman provides security at a polling station in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Saturday, Oct. 9, 2010. Of the 29 parties in the running in Sunday's elections, at least half a dozen are expected to make it into a newly strengthened parliament, as an intensely fought and often ugly campaign draws to an end. (AP Photo/Nina Gorshkova)
By Peter Leonard
Associated Press Writer / October 10, 2010
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OSH, Kyrgyzstan—Polls opened in Kyrgyzstan for parliamentary elections Sunday to choose a new and empowered parliament that the government hopes will usher in a new era of democracy.


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The vote comes after an exhausting year of political turbulence and ethnic violence in the south.

Security has been tightened for the vote in the Central Asian nation in a bid to prevent any possible outbreaks of unrest.

Kyrgyzstan, which hosts a strategically vital U.S. air base near Afghanistan, is set to embrace a parliamentary system of governance. This marks a sharp departure from the strongman model exercised under President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who was ousted in April amid violent public demonstrations.

Heading to cast his ballot a polling station at the agriculture institute in the southern city of Osh, 49-year old history teacher Ermek Suleimanov said the vote was a momentous turning point for the country.

"If in the past voting was just a formality, now we will find out who the people really want to lead them," Suleimanov said.

President Roza Otunbayeva said Saturday that the elections will be held in a spirit of fairness and transparency.

All eyes are on the southern cities of Osh and Jalal-Abad, where violent clashes between ethnic Kyrgyz and minority Uzbeks in June left more than 400 people dead, most of them Uzbeks, and displaced around 400,000 people.

Truckloads of police drove into Osh throughout the night, boosting the presence of security forces in the city.

In the ethnic Uzbek suburb of Sharq, a steady flow of voters headed to a local polling station Sunday morning on the site of a school burned down during the riots.
Coppied by http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2010/10/10/kyrgyzstan_goes_to_the_polls_in_historic_election/