Laurence over at Registan notes that both the new and old legislatures are claiming legitimacy.
In the parliament building, members of the newly restored legislature – lawmakers who served before disputed February and March elections that led to the protests that brought down the government – met in one room, while politicians elected in the recent voting gathered in another.
The Supreme Court has invalidated the recent elections, which the opposition said was marred by fraud. But the winners challenged the authority of the restored parliament.
ééOur opinion is that we should be the legitimate lawmakers, because the people have chosen us,” one winner, Roman Shin, said. He said the former lawmakers who have returned to parliament éédon’t want to abandon power.”
ééThe revolution was made by 5,000 people,” Shin said, referring to the swelling crowd that gathered outside the presidential and government headquarters Thursday before some of its members stormed the building and took it over.
He said the recently elected lawmakers éécould gather at least 25,000,” but added that they had no plans to call in crowds to challenge the parliament or interim government. ééNobody should bring people out on the streets for personal ambitions.”
And while it isn’t particularly strange that the various opposition groups are maneuvering for power within the interim government, the thing that worries me is the pro-Akayev aftershock coming up. Laurence notes that 3000 protestors are heading toward Bishkek to protest against Akayev’s removal.
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (Reuters) – Kyrgyzstan’s ousted interior minister led thousands of demonstrators toward the capital on Saturday to protest against the coup that overthrew President Askar Akayev, warning there was a risk of civil war.
The new leadership declared it was firmly in control of the mountainous ex-Soviet state, but acting President Kurmanbek Bakiev switched the venue of a news conference because officials said they had information of a possible plot to kill him.
Ignoring the exiled Akayev’s refusal to resign in the face of what he called a coup, parliament set June 26 for a new presidential election in the central Asian nation.
Bakiev said he would run in the election.
About 3,000 people set off from Akayev’s home region of Chym Korgon, some 90 km (55 miles) outside Bishkek, two days after the president was swept from power in mass protests.
“They may get there today. They may get there tomorrow, but the important thing is they will go there,” Keneshbek Dushebayev, appointed interior minister by Akayev just before he was ousted, told Reuters.
Dushebayev, who is leading the protesters whom he predicted could eventually number 10,000, said: “The country is virtually split and everything is in place for a civil war.”
But there was confusion over the aims of the protesters, some of whom expressed support for the new leadership.
Some carried posters saying “No to the coup!” and “The people of Kyrgyzstan are one nation!.” Other placards read: “We support general Kulov,” referring to opposition leader Felix Kulov.
One man in the crowd, Rustam Ibraimov, 24, said: “Our demand is to stop this lawlessness in Bishkek. The seizure of power is illegal. We do not support President Akayev, but the change of power should have been carried out according to the law.”
Kulov, put in charge of security just days after crowds freed him from jail, insisted the country was now orderly after lawlessness followed the popular revolt.
It’s not the simple act of protesting for the old government that’s worrying though; chances are, Akayev isn’t coming back. This will be something interesting to watch, to see if the opposition leaders, who are known to have cracked down on protests before, will control it by force. There are also riotous crowds on both sides of this aisle, and since they’ll both be in the same place, there is the possibility of clashes between in the two sides. Will there also be a split in the country?
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