(Photo: sina)

Kurmanbek Bakiev, an economist and experienced technocrat, is currently the leader of the For People's Power opposition election bloc.

He is popular both in his native south and among the ethnic Russian workforce, who form the backbone of industry, and intellectuals in the north.

Bakiev became prime minister in 2001. In May 2002, Bakiev was forced to resign after deadly clashes with opposition protesters in the south, the worst violence in the country since 1990 fighting between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in the southern city of Osh.

(Photo: sina)

Roza Otunbayeva, former foreign minister, ambassador to Britain and ambassador to the United Nations, became famous in Kyrgyzstan after she joined the opposition last fall, shortly after returning from overseas service.

She is popular in the north and among the country's intellectual and artistic elite. Recently, her popularity in the rural south has also been on the rise, as she was regarded as a bold and uncompromising female politician.

Felix Kulov, nicknamed "the people's general," was a former police chief and head of the National Security Ministry. His other top posts also included governor of the Chu region and vice-president.

Kulov was once widely popular in the north and respected in the south. In 2001, he was jailed for theft and abuse of power, in what his supporters said was a ploy by Akayev to neutralize his main rival.