- Sputnik International
World
Get the latest news from around the world, live coverage, off-beat stories, features and analysis.

Kyrgyz opposition unites, demands president's resignation

Subscribe
BISHKEK, December 24 (RIA Novosti) - Kyrgyzstan's main opposition parties signed an agreement to form an alliance on Wednesday and demanded the resignation of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev.

The leaders of the impoverished Central Asian state's seven opposition parties and four political movements have agreed to establish the United People's Movement, aimed at ousting the political leadership.

The opposition delivered an official statement to the Kyrgyz president asking him to apologize to the people and resign.

"The people of Kyrgyzstan are waiting for liberation from the Bakiyev clan. In the past year, the dissatisfaction among the citizens has increased and we will no longer be humiliated and insulted by those in power," said Bakytbek Beshimov, the leader of the parliament's Social Democratic Party faction.

The opposition is also demanding a change in the country's political system, and wants to make strategic power plants, electricity companies, railroads, telecommunication systems, the international airport and gold mines the property of the Kyrgyz people.

The National Council involving the opposition representatives will be a supreme body of the newly formed United People's Movement. A collegial political bureau uniting 11 leaders will be its main governing body, the opposition said.

In late November, the country's opposition demanded a drastic constitutional reform and parliament's dissolution, threatening mass protests if the demands are not met.

Some 2,000 members of Public Parliament, a broad coalition of opposition parties and NGOs, issued a resolution after a meeting in the capital, Bishkek, setting the authorities a deadline of March 2009.

Kyrgyzstan, where the United States and Russia both have airbases, has been plagued by instability and anti-government protests since Bakiyev came to power in 2005, toppling his long-serving predecessor Askar Akayev.

The opposition has accused the authorities of corruption, clamping down on the opposition and restricting free speech, as well as "intentionally steering the country toward a crisis to privatize major industrial enterprises."

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала