The Central Asian state's parliament rejected for the second time Thursday President Kurmanbek Bakiyev's nomination of ex-Prime Minister Felix Kulov, the president's former rival who received the post under a power-sharing deal that helped end violent unrest in March 2005.
Bakiyev said Thursday he would not nominate Kulov, who along with his Cabinet resigned in mid-December over a confrontation with parliament, for a third time.
Analysts predict Kulov could re-emerge as a strong opposition leader as a result, further undermining a president already weakened by clashes with parliament over constitutional amendments and popular discontent with the slow pace of promised reforms in the ex-Soviet nation.
The ex-premier said Friday he approved of the candidacy of Isabekov, who like Kulov himself represents the country's northern territories, which have traditionally fought for power with the south. He added that the choice was tantamount to a positive assessment of his Cabinet's performance.
"A Cabinet member being offered the post of prime minister represents a positive assessment of the work being done by the Cabinet in general and its head in particular," said Kulov, speaking to the country's top economic body as prime minister for the last time.
Isabekov, 46, an economist by training, held various positions in regional governments in the early 1990s.
He became deputy head of President Bakiyev's administration following the "tulip revolution" that toppled the longtime leader Askar Akaeyv in 2005, and was appointed agriculture minister in June 2006.
Isabekov resigned along with the Cabinet late last year, and is currently the acting agriculture minister.
