Non-Subscriber Extract
Kyrgyz opposition pledges mass protests over election results
21 December 2007
Kyrgyzstan's main opposition party Ata-Meken (Motherland) vowed on 20 December to hold mass protests against the results of the country's 16 December parliamentary elections.
The Election Commission released the official results of the elections on 20 December, which gave a landslide victory to President Kurmanbek Bakiyev's Ak Jol Eldik (Best Popular Path) party. Ata-Meken, despite gaining 8.7 per cent of the vote - well over the 5 per cent threshold for parliamentary representation - gained no seats due to a second set of regional thresholds.
This requires each party to gain 0.5 per cent of the votes in each of Kyrgyzstan's six regions and two largest cities, Bishkek and Osh. Ata-Meken failed to achieve this in Osh by only a few dozen votes.