Kyrgyzstan Elects Parliament Speaker

Akhmatbek Keldibekov

Kyrgyzstan's parliament has appointed a leader of the nationalist Ata-Jurt party as speaker.

The parliament voted 101-14 to appoint the head of the Ata-Jurt faction in parliament, Akhmatbek Keldibekov, as speaker.

The naming of the speaker came after Ata-Jurt this week formed a coalition with the Respublika party and the Social Democratic Party after a previous attempt at a three-party coalition failed.

Ata-Jurt finished first in Kyrgyzstan's October 10 elections, which resulted in five parties winning seats in parliament but failed to produce a clear winner.

Under a new system of government following the elections, parliament will be the main decision-making body.

compiled from agency reports