Kyrgyz presidential poll date set

Bakiyev faces deepening social discontent in the poor nation

Kyrgyzstan's parliament has voted to set 23 July as the date for the country's presidential election.

The vote follows a ruling on Thursday by the constitutional court that the election must be held by November.

President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who came to office in 2005, is widely seen as the likely winner of the ballot, in the impoverished former Soviet nation.

The opposition are planning protests next week, accusing him of mishandling the economy and worsening repression.

Correspondents say the president wants to hold the ballot as soon as possible, before the disunited opposition can regroup.

'Worsening repression'

President Bakiyev was elected to a four-year term in 2005, after allegations of a rigged ballot led to mass protests that drove then-President Askar Akayev from power.

The constitution was later amended to increase the maximum presidential term by a year, leading to ambiguity over whether the election should be held in 2009 or 2010.

But the constitutional court said this week that it made its decision on the basis of the previous constitution, under which President Bakiyev was elected.

Opposition parties have not yet nominated a candidate. They allege that the government will try to rig the July ballot.

In 2007, the president's Ak Zhol party won every parliamentary seat in general elections, which foreign monitors said failed to meet international standards.