Kyrgyz parliament approves new Prime Minister

Bishkek Aug 26 (IANS) Parliament of Kyrgyzstan on Friday approved Sapar Isakov for the post of the Central Asian country s new Prime Minister.

The coalition majority of the parliament earlier on the day nominated Isakov for the post of Prime Minister Xinhua reported.

At an extraordinary meeting of the parliament 97 deputies voted yes with five saying no. Totally there are 120 deputies in the parliament. Also the deputies approved the program structure and composition of the new government introduced by Isakov.

Isakov s nomination came after Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev signed Tuesday a decree accepting Prime Minister Sooronbay Jeenbekov s resignation as the latter was ready to run for the presidential election in October.

Jeenbekov has officially registered himself to the Central Election Commission (CEC) as a presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan (SDPK) in the elections scheduled for October 15.

According to law after registration as a presidential candidate the prime minister must either resign or temporarily resign before the end of elections.

The president then instructed the parliament to hold an extraordinary session on Friday to form a new cabinet.

As the candidate for prime minister Isakov on Friday presented his program and a new composition of the government to the deputies of the majority coalition which consists of three parties: the SDPK Bir Bol and Kyrgyzstan.

Isakov 40 has been working as chief of the President s Office of Kyrgyzstan since March this year. Before that he was a chief of the foreign policy department of the President s Office.

--IANS
ahm/