The FINANCIAL –According to RIA Novosti, the Kyrgyz parliament elected a new prime minister and speaker on December 24, following parliamentary elections December 16 which saw a landslide victory for the presidential Ak Zhol party.
Ex-energy minister Igor Chudinov from the ruling Ak Zhol party was elected as prime minister, while the former state secretary, Adakhan Madumarov, overwhelmingly (79-8) won parliamentary support for the post of speaker.
Chudinov said a new government would be formed in the next few days, but commenting on the make up said, he was not going to make "any drastic changes" to the current Cabinet, which has been running the country since former premier Almazbek Atambayev resigned in October.
"I myself worked in this government and it is very efficient," the premier said, adding that he would be concentrating on growth and economic policy.
Kyrgyzstan voted December 16 in early parliamentary elections expected to end two years of political upheaval in the ex-Soviet state. President Bakiyev's Ak Zhol party won 71 of the 90 seats in parliament, with the moderate Social Democratic and Communist Party winning 11 and eight seats, respectively.
Kyrgyzstan's main opposition party, Ata Meken, failed to win any parliamentary seats despite coming second, garnering 8.7% of the vote, due to a complicated threshold system, which meant that the party missed out on seats by a mere handful of votes.
Police in the country's capital, Bishkek, arrested on December 20 about 20 people protesting against the election results, which have attracted international condemnation and criticism from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe for a lack of transparency and failing to meet standards.
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