BISHKEK - Kyrgyzstan's outgoing parliament has elected a new speaker who will serve as interim president in the Central Asian nation, deputies said late Thursday after opposition supporters overran the government's main seat of power.
Opposition deputy Ishenbai Kadyrbekov was elected the speaker of the legislature during a closed emergency session on Thursday, said deputies who attended the meeting.
Parliament also named opposition leader Felix Kulov -- a former vice president widely tipped as the nation's next leader -- as chief of the nation's top security ministries.
Kulov, 56, who was jailed on corruption charges that many believed to have been politically motivated, was freed after Thursday's demonstration. A policeman by training, he is considered to be a natural leader to unite Kyrgyzstan's fractitious opposition.
According to the national constitution, in the absence of president and prime minister, the speaker of parliament serves as the head of state.
Kyrgyz leader Askar Akayev was believed to have fled the nation he has ruled since 1990 and opposition leaders said that his Prime Minister Nikolai Tanayev had resigned.
One of the opposition's top leaders, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, was named as acting prime minister, the former leader of the outgoing legislature Kaganbek Samakov told reporters at the close of session in the early hours of Friday.
"In accordance with the constitution the upper house of parliament confirmed the candidacy of Kurmanbek Bakiyev as acting prime minister," he said.
Bakiyev will head a coordinating council of national unity that which will act as a temporary government, he said.
Deputies said that until the political situation in the country clears up, parliament will be the only national body with the authority of making decisions.
Parliament planned to reconvene on Friday, Samakov said.
Earlier Bakiyev said that former deputy interior minister Abdyl Suranchiyev would now head the key power ministry, with former deputy Alymbai Sultanov acting as his assistant.
The emergency session was attended by the nation's outgoing 105-seat bicameral legislature that was due to be replaced by winners of this year's legislative vote, the second round of which took place on March 13.
Results from that poll -- in which voters cast ballots for a new, unicameral, 75-seat legislature -- showed the opposition winning only a handful of seats and sparked protests that culminated Thursday with thousands of rock-throwing, stick-wielding protesters overrunning the government's main seat of power.
03/24/2005 20:45 GMT