BISHKEK (TCA) — The parliament in Kyrgyzstan elected Chynybai Tursunbekov of the pro-presidential Social Democratic Party as the parliament’s new speaker in the second round of a secret vote on April 27.
A total of 88 lawmakers voted for Tursunbekov, while his rival, Iskhak Masaliev of the Onuguu-Progress Party, received support from 26 lawmakers.
On April 20, Kyrgyz lawmakers failed to elect a new speaker of parliament when two candidates — Kanat Isayev of the Kyrgyzstan Party and Bakyt Torobayev of the Onuguu-Progress Party — each received 51 votes.
The previous Speaker, Asylbek Jeenbekov, resigned earlier this month after his brother, Sooronbai Jeenbekov, was appointed Kyrgyzstan’s prime minister.
According to the website of the Kyrgyz parliament, Tursunbekov was born in 1960 in the Jan-Bulak village of the Naryn province. In 1983, he graduated with honors from the Philology Department of the Kyrgyz State University. He is a journalist and poet. In 2004, he graduated from the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kyrgyzstan. He was elected a member of parliament from the Social Democratic Party. Until his election as the new speaker, he was the leader of his party’s faction in the parliament and a member of the parliamentary Committee of Human Rights, Constitutional Law and State System.
Speaking to journalists on April 27, the new Speaker promised to continue to openly cooperate with the public and the media.
He earlier said he will do his best to build up a strong and efficient parliament that would play a positive role in Kyrgyzstan’s economic development.
