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Kyrgyz parliament elects new speaker, security chief
25/3/2005 5:36

Kyrgyzstan's outgoing parliament elected on Thursday two opposition leaders as the new speaker and head of security agencies of the Central Asian country.

At a closed emergency session of the parliament, Ishenbai Kadyrbekov was named the parliament speaker, who will serve as interim president and prime minister in their absence according tothe Kyrgyz constitution, Interfax reported. Kadyrbekov was speakerof the previous parliament.

The parliament also elected another opposition leader Felix Kulov, released from prison Thursday, as the new head of the country's security agencies. Kulov, 56, was jailed on corruption charges.

President Askar Akayev and his family reportedly fled the country to Kazakhstan after opposition protesters seized control of main government buildings and the national television station in the capital Bishkek.

Prime Minister Nikolai Tanayev was also said to have resigned.

Opposition leader Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who is deputy head of the People's Movement of Kyrgyzstan, will head a coordinating council of national unity, which will act as an interim government.



 Xinhua