Kyrgyzstan's President Headed for Landslide Re-election

Kyrgyzstan's incumbent President Kurmanbek Bakijev appears to be headed for a landslide victory in a presidential vote which the main opposition candidate claims was rigged.

Elections officials announced Friday that Mr. Bakijev led by nearly 90 percent out of the roughly 51 percent of the ballots that had been counted.

Before the polls closed Thursday, Kyrgyzstan's main opposition candidate, former prime minister Almazbek Atambayev, said the election was a sham and called for a rerun.

Atambayev claimed there was widespread ballot-stuffing and intimidation of opposition election monitors.
Kyrgyz election officials dump ballots onto a table to begin the vote count at a polling station in Bishkek, 23 Jul 2009
Atambayev was considered the president's most serious challenger. Another presidential candidate, Zhenishbek Nazaraliyev, quit the race while voting was under way.

Election officials declared the vote valid .

Election monitors with the European-based Organization for Security and Cooperation are due to give their assessment of the process later Friday.

The United States and Russia have key strategic interests in Kyrgyzstan.

The country hosts U.S. troops at an air base used to supply U.S. and NATO troops in nearby Afghanistan.

Russia has recently given Kyrgyzstan about $2 billion in aid in what analysts say is an attempt to wield influence in the Central Asian nation.

President Bakiyev took power in 2005 after violent street protests forced his predecessor, Askar Akayev, to resign.