Final official results show Kyrgyz president winning second term with 76 percent of vote

September 24th, 2009 Afghan official gives 2-week window for new voteKABUL — Afghanistan has a two-week window to realistically hold any presidential runoff vote before winter sets in, an election official said Thursday in a stark acknowledgment that a quick decision is needed on whether to hold new balloting. Preliminary results from Afghanistan's Aug.

September 16th, 2009 Full, uncertified Afghan vote: Karzai with 54 pctKABUL — Afghanistan's election commission released preliminary vote totals Wednesday showing President Hamid Karzai with 54.6 percent of the vote in the first full results to be released since the country's Aug. 20 election.

September 12th, 2009 KABUL - Even as questions of election fixing continued to swirl, Afghan election officials Saturday failed to release preliminary final results, as had been expected. The Afghan Independent Election Commission (IEC), which has become the subject of pointed criticism since the Aug 20 election, reported Saturday that results from 92.8 percent of polling places had been counted.

September 10th, 2009 Fraud commission excludes ballots in Afghan voteKABUL — The U.N.-backed commission investigating fraud in Afghanistan's election issued its first orders Thursday to exclude some ballots from the final tally. The Aug. 20 poll has been increasingly marred by reports of ballot-box stuffing and suspicious tallies.

August 31st, 2009 KABUL - Afghan President Hamid Karzai's share of the vote in the hotly disputed Aug 20 presidential election shrank to 45.9 percent Monday, but still ahead of his nearest challenger by more than 12 percent, according to official figures. Figures posted on the Independent Election Commission's website showed that former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah garnered 33.3 percent of vote with ballots tallied from 47.8 percent of polling centres in the country.

August 30th, 2009 Counterterrorism official killed in AfghanistanKABUL — Militants gunned down a provincial counterterrorism chief in eastern Afghanistan after ambushing his convoy, an official said Sunday. Fayez Khan, who headed counterterrorism operations for Khost province, was driving home Saturday evening in a convoy with police and bodyguards when he was ambushed, said Tahir Khan Sabari, the province's deputy governor.

August 20th, 2009 Mallahan ekes out lead in Seattle mayor's raceSEATTLE — Elections officials have released further results from Tuesday's primary, and things aren't looking any better for Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels. With about two-thirds of the vote counted, Nickels still has only about 25.2 percent of the vote, with T-Mobile executive Joe Mallahan leading at 26.7 percent and Sierra Club activist Mike McGinn at 26.5 percent.

August 2nd, 2009 BISHKEK - A pensioner in Kyrgyzstan spent all the money he had saved for Haj pilgrimage to rebuild a dilapidated monument in memory of the victims of World War II, a media report said. Suleiman Turdubayev has been saving money to go for Haj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia for a long time, Kyrgyz news website, called 24.kg, posted the report on its website last week.

August 2nd, 2009 Kyrgyz president inaugurated for 2nd termBISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan — Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev was inaugurated for his second term Sunday after winning an election that the opposition has dismissed as fraudulent. Opposition activists accuse the government of rigging last month's vote, which Bakiyev won with 76 percent of the ballots.

August 2nd, 2009 ALMATY - Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev was sworn in Sunday for his second term in office, media reports said. Bakiyev was re-elected in the country's presidential election July 23, winning 76.12 percent of the votes.

July 17th, 2009 Kyrgyz policeman arrested after reporter attackBISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan — Prosecutors say a Kyrgyz police officer has been arrested in the beating of a reporter who later died from his injuries. Almaz Tashiyev's death last week reinforced concerns about the risks faced by independent journalists in the Central Asian nation.

July 9th, 2009 Early results show Indonesian president winningJAKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesia's president swept elections to win a second term, preliminary results showed Thursday, but his opponents refused to concede defeat and called the vote undemocratic. The National Election Commission gave incumbent Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono 62 percent in its first preliminary figures, based on more than 18.7 million ballots counted after Wednesday's vote.

June 23rd, 2009 Report: US, Kyrgyz deal on airbase useMOSCOW — The United States and Kyrgyzstan have reached a deal for use of a Kyrgyz airport to transport U.S. military supplies to Afghanistan, Russian news agencies reported Tuesday.

June 8th, 2009 Afghans, Kyrgyz may discuss leaving US base openBISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan — A high-ranking Kyrgyz official says the Central Asian nation's president may meet with Afghan leader Hamid Karzai to discuss the possibility of letting U.S.-led forces continue using an air base to support operations in Afghanistan. Aibek Moldogaziyev said Monday that President Kurmanbek Bakiyev and Karzai might discuss the Manas air base during an upcoming security summit in Russia.

February 8th, 2009 BISHKEK - The Kyrgyz parliamentary defence and security committee approved closure of the US military airbase in the country Monday. The hearings on the closure of the base will now be assessed by three parliamentary factions before going to a final debate in parliament.