BISHKEK - Kyrgyzstan's parliament has ended days of uncertainty by accepting ousted president Askar Akayev's resignation and setting July 10 as the date for presidential elections in this mountainous Central Asian country.
The former Soviet republic's parliament approved Akayev's resignation by 38 votes in favour and two against and then set a fresh date for polls that had earlier been scheduled for late June, the parliament's press service said.
The setting of an election date later than previously planned was designed to create a more level playing field for potential candidates, parliament speaker Omurbek Tekebayev said.
"We changed the election date so that all candidates have time to prepare -- not only Bakiyev, who is currently using all resources of the administration," Tekebayev told journalists, referring to the country's new prime minister and acting president, Kurmanbek Bakiyev.
Akayev fled the country that he had led since 1990 on March 24, when weeks of unrest over a disputed parliamentary poll boiled over and opposition protestors overran the main seat of government in the capital Bishkek.
On Friday parliament stripped Akayev of many privileges that he would have been due and deprived his relatives, although not Akayev himself, of immunity from prosecution.
Elsewhere on Monday the supreme court resolved another major element of uncertainty, annulling a criminal conviction against a leading politician seen as a likely election rival to Bakiyev, Felix Kulov.
Kulov, a popular former head of national security and Bishkek mayor, was jailed for seven years in 2000 on corruption charges widely seen as politically driven.
He was freed from jail immediately after Akayev's ousting and was entrusted by Bakiyev with the task of restoring law and order amid a massive wave of looting that hit the capital.
Monday's court decision clearing Kulov of the last of two criminal convictions was greeted by several hundred supporters shouting "Viva Kulov!" outside the court. Their leader remained coy about his intentions however.
"Finally the court has been able to objectively and fairly consider my two criminal cases -- it shows that democratic changes have indeed occurred," Kulov said.
"I have not yet made a final decision whether or not to run for the presidency as it is too heavy a responsibility."
Monday's key decisions will come as a relief after Western diplomats and Kyrgyz politicians warned that the situation appeared again to be spinning out of control in this republic of five million people located on China's western edge.
In recent days thousands of impoverished country dwellers have taken to seizing land around the capital, prompting a demonstration by several hundred angry landowners in central Bishkek on Monday, said a spokeswoman for Bishkek's mayor's office, Raikhan Abdraimova.
On Sunday night unknown assailants shot dead Usen Kudaibergenov, a leading figure in Bakiyev's People's Movement who coordinated the "people's militia" charged with restoring order following Akayev's ousting.
Bakiyev's election hopes now ride on his ability to restore stability, said an analyst at Bishkek's Central Asia American University, Temirlan Moldogaziev.
"Many people in Kyrgyzstan think that demonstrations are abnormal. If Bakiyev is not able to do anything now he's out at the presidential elections -- Kulov will come back as a saviour," Moldogaziev said.
04/11/2005 10:38 GMT