In Kyrgyzstan the News Agency is reporting that a new prime minister has been elected by the four coalition parties. This follows the election as president of Almazbek Atambayev who was formerly the PM.

The process for electing the PM is somewhat unusual and the English translation of the procedure only makes it seem more so.

This is how the so-called “soft rating” process is reported: “the statute of “soft rating” for election Prime Minister and Speaker has been developed. It defines the order and conditions of selection of candidates for leading positions in Government and Parliament. The majority coalition selects aspirants and submits them to a vote of alliance participants, which is held at the coalition’s general meeting. Structure is considered eligible if it involves at least two-thirds of the coalition factions’ members. The statute says that the form of ballots and protocols is approved by open vote. A specially created counting commission consisting of coalition deputies resumes the results. “The factions that make up the ruling bloc nominate one candidate for the post of Speaker and Prime Minister from their members. A separate ballot is preparing for each of them,” the document says. Voting is secret. The aspirants to the posts of the Speaker and Premiere who have the majority of votes are submitted for approval by Parliament.”

So, in line with this new process, the New Agency reports: “4 candidates were nominated for the post of the Kyrgyz Prime Minister: Omurbek Babanov, Ravshan Zheenbekov, Nariman Tyuleev, Temir Sariev. The latter took the rejection [presumably, meaning that he stood down before the vote]. Temir Sariev also noted that the decision on his nomination by the SDPK fraction had been a great surprise for him.” Anyway, of the three remaining candidates, Omurbek Babanov has been elected PM. He was nominated by the Respublika party. President Atambayev is from the Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan (SDPK).

The government comprises four parties, the SDPK, Respublika, Ar-Namys and Ata-Meken. The Ata-Zhurt party is the only opposition faction.