Kyrgyz parliament elects new chairman

/By Azernews/

By Laman Ismayilova

Chynybai Tursunbekov, an MP from the Social Democratic Party, has been elected the chairman of the Kyrgyzstan parliament, through a secrete vote in the second round.

As many as 88 members of the parliament supported the candidacy of Tursunbekov, while his rival, Iskhak Masaliev from the Onuguu-Progress Party, gained support of 26 MPs.

Earlier, the previous speaker Asylbek Jeenbekov decided to resign after his brother, Sooronbai Jeenbekov, was nominated to the position of prime minister.

On April 20, Kyrgyz parliament put for vote the candidacies of Kanat Isaev of the Kyrgyzstan Party and Bakyt Torobaev of the Onuguu-Progress Party, but non of them succeeded to gain the necessary amount of votes.

Both candidates received 51 votes from the MPs.

At least 61 votes are needed to be elected speaker in the 120-seat parliament.