( AP ) - President Kurmanbek Bakiyev's party looked headed for an overwhelming victory in parliamentary elections in this strategically important Central Asian nation, the election authority said Monday based on early results.
With nearly 70 percent of ballots counted from Sunday's vote, Bakiyev's Ak Jol party was leading with 46 percent, said Central Election Commission spokesman Bakyt Jumagulov. Ak Jol is followed by the opposition Ata Meken party of former parliament speaker Omurbek Tekebayev with 9.7 percent.
So far, they were the only two parties certain to have cleared the 5 percent threshold to gain seats in the one-chamber, 90-seat legislature, Jumagulov said.
Kyrgyzstan is militarily and economically important to several leading global powers. Russia has an air base here and the U.S. military base outside the capital Bishkek helps support operations in Afghanistan. It is the last U.S. base left in Central Asia. Neighboring Uzbekistan evicted U.S. forces in 2005.
The United States, Russia and China, another neighbor, are competing along with other nations for access to Central Asia's oil, hydropower potential, strategic metals, pipelines and transit routes.
Bakiyev has worried many with his increasingly authoritarian policies.
Allegations of vote rigging and tensions between rival political parties dogged the parliamentary elections, heightening worries about the stability of the nation.
Opposition groups accused the government of plotting to rig the vote to purge parliament of Bakiyev's political rivals. They threatened to hold mass protests if there were any signs of meddling.