Former Kyrgyz PM Sariev nominated for president
BISHKEK. June 19 (Interfax) - Delegates at a congress of the Ak-Shumkar party unanimously supported the nomination of former Kyrgyz Prime Minister Temir Sariev for Kyrgyz presidency on Monday.
"I believe that the presidential election will be fair, clean and transparent," Sariev said at the congress.
As to his political platform, Sariev urged support to integration processes underway in the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and the soonest reform of the police, the prosecution service and courts.
Former Kyrgyz parliament deputies and leaders of the Ata Zhurt opposition party Akmatbek Keldibekov and Kamchybek Tashiev voiced their support to Sariev at the congress.
Last Thursday, the parliament scheduled the presidential election for October 15, and the Ak-Shumkar party was the first to hold a congress for nominating a presidential candidate.
In February, a congress of the Ak-Shumkar party led by Sariev decided that the former prime minister would be participating in the election. The party's political council was due to present a party program and platform, which will lay a foundation of the candidate's program, before the campaign starts.
Sariev was the prime minister in 2015-2016. He had been the minister of economy and finance before.
The Kyrgyz president has a six-year office. The term of incumbent President Almazbek Atambayev will expire on December 1, 2017.
The leaders of opposition parliament factions, Omurbek Babanov (Respublika-Ata Zhurt) and Bakut Torobayev (Onuguu-Progress), have also declared their intention to run for president. The political council of the pro-presidential Social Democratic Party said it would nominate Prime Minister Sooronbai Jeenbekov for president.