Five parties won seats in Kyrgyzstan's new parliament on Monday, a fragmented result that means tough negotiations lie ahead to form a coalition to lead the Central Asian state out of failed authoritarian rule. Kyrgyzstan is trying to form the first parliamentary democracy in a region dominated by post-Soviet strongmen, only four months after hundreds died in ethnic violence and six months after its president was toppled in a popular uprising.
-- OSCE praises 'vibrant' election
Sunday's election was hailed by international observers and passed without violence and only minor reports of fraud. Under new rules, parliament will be the country's main decision-making body, assuming more power than the president. More than half of the electorate voted, but no party secured more than 9 percent of the vote.
Ata Zhurt, a party whose members include former colleagues of ousted President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, narrowly placed first with 8.7 percent of the vote, the Central Election Commission said with almost all votes counted. The other four parties that won seats include one whose leader was an architect of the reforms that shifted power to parliament, and two that staunchly oppose the changes.
"We can be proud of the fact that these elections were completely different to those we have seen before," President Roza Otunbayeva said in a televised address. Otunbayeva says she will remain as president until December 31, 2011. After nearly two decades of authoritarian rule since the collapse of the Soviet Union, interim leaders want to empower a prime minister to bridge political and ethnic rifts.
"This is the first time that the Kyrgyz people have tasted democracy," said Chynybai Tursunbekov, candidate for the Social-Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan, second in the polls. Otunbayeva came to power after a popular revolt in April toppled Bakiyev, a former opposition leader who had taken over after his Soviet-era predecessor was chased from office by street protesters in 2005. Bakiyev is now exiled in Belarus.
The United States, which operates a military air base in the country to support the war in Afghanistan, has vocally supported the plan to create the region's first parliamentary democracy. Russia, which also has an air base in Kyrgyzstan, opposes the parliamentary model, arguing it could expose the country to more violence or a power grab by Islamist militants.
US President Barack Obama said in a statement the vote "renews our conviction to help the courageous people of Kyrgyzstan consolidate their democracy, jumpstart their economy, and maintain peace and security". "The next phase in Kyrgyzstan's democratic restoration should be the formation of a coalition government that can govern the country effectively and peacefully," he said.
The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), which sent about 250 observers, praised the wide choice of candidates and vibrant campaign. "I have observed many elections in Central Asia over the years, but this is the first election where I could not predict the outcome," said Morten Hoeglund, special co-ordinator of the short-term OSCE observer mission to Kyrgyzstan.
The Central Electoral Commission said five of the 29 parties which contested the polls had met the minimum requirements to win seats, by gathering more than five percent of the nation-wide vote and more than 0.5 percent in each of the country's regions. The 120 seats will be distributed proportionately among them.
Turnout was 57 percent and the highest percentage of voters, 66 percent, was in Osh, epicentre of the country's worst ethnic violence in June. The proliferation of parties meant nearly two-thirds of votes went to groups that won no seats. "The battle now will be inside parliament, and not on the streets," said Mars Sariyev, an independent analyst in Bishkek.
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