Otunbayeva ceases party membership after being appointed interim president

Under the recent provisional government's decree appointing Otunbayeva the country's interim president, the interim president may not be member of any political party.

"I have also been vested with powers of the republic's prime minister until a new government is formed," Otunbayeva said in a statement. "The decree authorises the interim government to organize free, fair and transparent presidential and parliamentary elections."

The new post obliges the interim president to be politically neutral and refrain from any activities in support of any political parties, Otunbayeva reminded. "So, I have to cease my membership of the Socio-Democratic Party," she said and paid tribute to the party's efforts to "waken the society, remove Kurmanbek Bakiyev's authoritarian nepotic regime and bring the country back to the democratic path."

"I will work for the entire people of the republic, ensuring equal conditions and possibilities for millions of our citizens, male and female, regardless of their political and other views, or their ethnic identity," she vowed.

Otunbayeva will be Kyrgyzstan's interim president until December 31, 2011. The June 27 referendum on the republic's new constitution will also address the issue of confidence vote to Otunbayeva, Kazinform cites Itar-Tass. See www.iatr-tass.com