ALMATY : Kyrgyzstan\u2019s President Sooronbai Jeenbekov said on Friday he was ready to resign once a new cabinet was appointed to end the power vacuum in the Central Asian nation gripped by unrest since opposition supporters seized government buildings on Tuesday.
\nWhile his offer, made in a statement, could facilitate the transfer of power later, it may do little to resolve the political impasse, which prompted regional power Russia to describe Kyrgyzstan\u2019s situation as chaos.
\nAfter forcing the cabinet to resign and the election commission to annul the results of Sunday\u2019s parliamentary election that triggered the protests, opposition groups have so far failed to agree on who would lead a provisional government.
\nThe former Soviet republic\u2019s outgoing parliament has also not convened or appointed one of at least three interim premier candidates, with some MPs saying they feared for their safety.
\nTwo political parties close to Jeenbekov swept Sunday\u2019s parliamentary vote, but at least 11 other parties refused to accept the results and Western observers said the election was marred by credible allegations of vote-buying.
\nThe nation of 6.5 million which borders China and hosts a Russian military air base and a large Canadian-owned mining operation. Despite the state of uncertainty, with no legitimate leadership, veteran officials appeared to be in control of its security forces.
\nThe State National Security Committee said on Friday neighbouring Uzbekistan had handed over to it three people who illegally crossed the border on Oct. 6, when the previous government fell.
\nOne of them was district mayor Tilek Matraimov, a member of the influential Matraimov family, which also includes his brothers Raimbek Matraimov, a former deputy head of customs, and Iskender Matraimov, a member of parliament.
\nIskender Matraimov sought reelection on the ticket of Mekenim Kyrgyzstan, one of the parties that dominated the now-annulled election.
\nThe state security committee said Tilek Matraimov and the two other men handed over by the Uzbek side were held while being investigated for illegal border-crossing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ALMATY : Kyrgyzstan\u2019s President Sooronbai Jeenbekov said on Friday he was ready to resign once a new cabinet was appointed to end the power vacuum in the Central Asian nation gripped by unrest since opposition supporters seized government buildings on Tuesday. While his offer, made in a statement, could facilitate the transfer of power later, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":149404,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-149399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n