Kyrgyz parliament session called off over problems in ruling

BISHKEK, March 11 (Itar-Tass) - The Kyrgyz parliament has called off
its Friday session over difference inside the ruling coalition, the
parliament's press service told Itar-Tass on Friday.
"Lawmakers from the majority coalition are currently holding a
separate meeting," the press service said.
Over the recent few days, members of the coalition have been accusing
each other of breaking earlier agreements. In the long run, they decided
to call a separate closed-door meeting. Many Kyrgyz experts do not rule
out that the meeting might result in a breakup of the alliance, which, in
its turn, will automatically entail resignation of the government.
Following the October 2010 parliamentary elections seats in the
parliament are distributed among five parties, which scored about the same
number of votes. Among these five are Ata-Zhurt (Motherland), Social
Democratic Party, Ar-Namys (Dignity), Republic, and Ata-Meken
(Fatherland). Since neither of them scored the majority of votes, they had
to form coalitions. The process took about two months and was crowned by a
coalition of Ata-Zhurt, Social Democrats, and Republic. They formed a
government, with Almaz Atambayev, the Social Democrat leader, appointed
prime minister. Leader of the Republic party Omurbek Babanov was appointed
first deputy prime minister, and Akhmatbek Keldibekov of Ata-Zhurt was
elected speaker of the parliament.
According to Kyrgyz political scientists, if the ruling alliance
breaks up, power may go to the former opposition parties, Ar-Namys led by
Felix Kulov and Ata-Meken led by Omurbek Tekebayev. The former, Felix
Kulov, once was Kyrgyzstan's prime minister, while the latter, Omurbek
Tekebayev, was parliament speaker. The two parties, however, may form an
alliance only if they are joined by one of the parties from the current
ruling coalition.