Kyrgyz President Roza Otunbayeva said during an address to the people of the Central Asian country that Sunday's parliamentary elections will create a new system of government.
Kyrgyzstan will hold parliamentary elections on Sunday that will lead the country into a new legitimate government after the former president, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, was ousted in April of this year in a bloody revolution.
"These elections contain the destiny for our people and government. We are not just electing the parliament, we are beginning a new system of government - a parliamentary republic," Otunbayeva said.
The new system of government in Kyrgyzstan will consist of a single-chamber parliament that will choose a premier minister by a majority vote. The premier will govern the nation, whereas the president will hold a symbolic role with virtually no powers.
Otunbayeva, who was named president after Bakiyev fled the country, will remain president until the end of 2011, after which a new president will be elected. She has no right to run for president.
Otunbayeva blamed the previous two presidents, Askar Akayev and Kurmanbek Bakiyev, of "stealing the people's wealth, the growth in corruption, and an ineffective government system."
She also said that a parliamentary form of government was not brought to Kyrgyzstan from overseas or from another continent. "The spirit of democracy is based in the traditions of our forefathers, which helped us survive for centuries," she said.
Twenty-nine parties will compete for seats in Kyrgyzstan's 120-member parliament, which will see its powers increase as part of constitutional changes approved in late June in a national referendum.
Russia hopes the elections will help promote stability in the Central Asian republic, which is still recovering from the ethnic violence that swept through the country's south in June.
BISHKEK, October 9 (RIA Novosti)
