Kyrgyz government resigns but will stay on for 2 more months, President Bakiyev say

Kyrgyzstan's President Kurmanbek Bakiyev announced Wednesday that the government has tendered its resignation, but will stay on for two months until a new Cabinet can be formed.

Photo: Kyrgyz government resigns but will stay on for 2 more months, President Bakiyev say

He said the resignation was not connected with the government's performance, but with coming changes after about 74 percent of voters approved sweeping alterations to the Central Asian country's constitution in a referendum held Sunday.

"By the end of the year a new government and parliament will be formed," Bakiyev told journalists.

Bakiyev signed a decree Tuesday dissolving the country's parliament, a measure also stemming from the referendum results.

The coming changes will include eliminating individual candidates in parliamentary elections, and instead establishing a system of party-based lists. Critics have said the change will hurt smaller parties and independent politicians.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and U.S. Embassy has criticized the referendum for multiple alleged violations, including ballot box-stuffing.

Bakiyev came to power in 2005 after his predecessor, Askar Akayev, was overthrown. Politics in the strategically important country - a site of U.S. and Russian bases - have been mired in squabbling for more than two years.