Text of report by the Kyrgyz newspaper 'Vecherniy Bishkek'

[Newspaper headline] One more candidate for the presidency

[Subheading] Round-table talks to sum up the results of the first round of
voting were held by the candidates for deputies to the Legislative Assembly
of the Supreme Council [Kyrgyz parliament's standing chamber] from the
opposition movements, Feliks Kulov [former mayor of Bishkek and leader of
the Ar-Namys (Honour) Party], Alevtina Pronenko and Daniyar Usenov [leader
of the (Poor and Unprotected) People's Party].

Numerous members of the (Poor and Unprotected) People's Party and the
Ar-Namys [Honour] Party, observers and proxies of the above-mentioned
candidates shared their impressions on the election campaign with each
other. The common opinion was the same: the local government bodies had
impeded the candidates in various ways.

The leader of the Ar-Namys Party, Feliks Kulov, made a statement.
He announced his intention to run for the post of president of the Kyrgyz
Republic.

Kulov, who took such a crucial decision, explained to the audience the
reasons for this as follows: the situation in the country requires cardinal
measures. The second reason was no less prosaic: the initiative of a number
of opposition parties to create a parliamentary Kyrgyz Republic has not
been supported by the official government and therefore Feliks

Sharshenbayevich [Kulov], who is going to struggle for the presidential
seat, should he win, will strive to resolve this issue.

And one more thing. Immediately after this statement a number of diplomatic
missions accredited in the republic, representatives of which participated
in the round-table talks, expressed their intention to hold advisory
meetings with the leader of the Ar-Namys Party. [A. Otorbayeva] [p14]

Source: 'Vecherniy Bishkek', Bishkek, in Russian 06 Mar 00 p14
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