Pro-Bakiev Kyrgyz Lawmakers Back His Impeachment

Ak-Jol member Begaly Nargozuev

BISHKEK -- Several legislators from Kyrgyzstan's pro-presidential Ak-Jol (Bright Path) party have called for President Kurmanbek Bakiev's impeachment, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reports.

Ak-Jol deputy Begaly Nargozuev told RFE/RL today that a group of party members is pushing the idea of impeachment. Ak-Jol members said it would be a way of legally removing Bakiev from power and could help prevent any further violence in the country.

Roza Otunbaeva, the head of Kyrgyzstan's self-declared interim government, dissolved parliament after the opposition took power on April 8.

Ak-Jol held 71 seats in the 90-seat parliament at the time it was disbanded. It is not clear if parliament could be reconvened. If it was, an impeachment vote would need to be approved by two-thirds of the deputies.

Bakiev, who fled Bishkek last week after clashes between security forces and antigovernment protesters, is in his native Jalal-Abad region in the southern part of the country. He has rejected calls by the interim government to resign without preconditions.