Kyrgyzstan to hold prez polls no later than Jan 10: PM

Kyrghyzstan will hold its presidential election no later than January 10, 2021, the newly-appointed Prime Minister Sadyr Zhaparov, who has declared himself as acting president, said on Friday.

The announcement came a day after Sooronbai Jeenbekov, the fifth President of the Central Asian country, resigned in order to restore stability in the country following weeks of unrest that resulted from a disputed election.

Addressing an extraordinary session of Parliament on Friday morning, Zhaparov said both the presidential and parliamentary elections will be held within the framework of the law, adding that consultations will be held soon to decide on the dates.

He also proposed lowering the threshold to enter Parliament up to 5 per cent, and reducing the electoral deposit from 5 million Kyrgyz soms to 1 million soms, as well as the number of deputies from 120 to 90 or 70.

"When such a Parliament comes, then we will be able to go for constitutional reform," he said.

Kyrgyzstan, which gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, has been gripped by unrest sparked by allegations of vote buying and impropriety in the October 4 parliamentary elections, in which 16 political parties participated.

Preliminary results showed that four parties crossed the 7 per cent threshold to enter Parliament.

Some parties which failed to meet the threshold organized nationwide protests the next day, demanding the annulment of the elections and claiming gross violations.

The protests led to clashes between the police and protesters.

Kyrgyzstan's Central Election Commission (CEC) later annulled the results of the elections..