(RFE/RL) -- Kyrgyzstan's interim government has announced that the country will hold elections in October, after a referendum aimed at reducing the powers of the president.
Omurbek Tekebaev, the deputy leader of the interim government, said that parliamentary elections would take place on October 10 after a referendum on costitutional change to be held on June 27.
He said the government plans to reduce the power of the president to prevent authoritarianism and create a parliamentary republic.
He said the parliamentary election could be held jointly with a presidential ballot.
The interim government was set up after a popular uprising earlier this month ousted President Kurmanbek Bakiev.
In exile in Belarus, Bakiev says he is still president.
The interim government, which accuses him of ordering the violent crackdown on protesters on April 7 and also of corruption, says he has resigned.
The government says it has arrested a number of Bakiev allies in the south of the country.
with agency reports