Text of report by the Kyrgyz news agency Kabar on 15th February

Bishkek, 15th February: "Normal political struggle is going on in the
country ahead of the elections - perhaps, this is not typical of some other
countries - and therefore, I believe, that there is no ground for concern,"
the chairman of the Central Electoral Commission, Sulayman Imanbayev, said
at a briefing at Government House for representatives of international and
nongovernmental organizations.

The fact that some legal proceedings have been launched in the run-up to the
elections is nothing other than "a simple coincidence", he said.
The electoral commission's head drew the attention of the participants of
the briefing to other aspects of the election campaign, in particular, to
the fact that foreign observers were taking part in the forthcoming
elections. He said that 168 observers from the OSCE alone had been
accredited by now to monitor the elections. "There have never been such a
great number of observers involved in elections in Kyrgyzstan," Imanbayev
said.

Source: Kabar news agency, Bishkek, in Russian 1306 gmt 15 Feb 00
BBC Mon CAU 160200/** BB/MK