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BISHKEK — Parliament held its first session Friday as police arrested several people protesting an election that strengthened Kyrgyzstan's president but opened the door for further turmoil.
The 90-member parliament met in the capital, Bishkek, following Sunday's election that was criticized by opposition forces and foreign observers.
A few blocks away, some 60 supporters of the main opposition party Ata-Meken protested in a square, holding placards that read "I don't believe" — a denunciation of the official results.
Police swiftly moved in and detained 17 men, according to the party.
President Kurmanbek Bakiyev's political party, Ak Jol, won 71 seats, and two smaller parties that have sided with Bakiyev in the past won the other 19.
Ata-Meken finished second with about 8.3 percent of the vote, but failed to win any seats under restrictive new election rules pushed through by Bakiyev.
Ata Meken's leaders accused the government of rigging the results and threatened to challenge them in court.
The party has also organized protests, and 16 participants in a demonstration Thursday were sentenced to jail terms of up to a week, fined or issued warnings in cursory trials at a police detention center late Thursday, according to Lira Ismailov, a member of a non-governmental organization called Citizens Against Corruption.
Ismailov said the conduct of the trials violated several laws.
"We consider this lawlessness and scare tactics," he said.
"Harsh measures are being taken against our supporters, but we will continue our struggle," said Ata-Meken leader Omurbek Tekebayev, a former parliament speaker. "We do not want high-level posts — we have made a moral choice and want to change society."
Opposition leaders have threatened to stage mass protests, but so far the vote has provoked only small-scale demonstrations.
Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet republic of 5 million people in Central Asia, has been in political turmoil since opposition protests after a 2005 parliamentary vote drove longtime President Askar Akayev from power.
Bakiyev has clashed with defiant lawmakers over the extent of his powers and over government appointments. After a series of large-scale street protests, police cracked down in April, using tear gas and stun grenades to break up a demonstration.
Kyrgyzstan had long been considered the most liberal among Central Asia's five predominantly Muslim nations, but Bakiyev has faced criticism for attempts to tighten control.
The United States, which has an air base in Kyrgyzstan to support operations in Afghanistan, on Thursday accused the government of failing to live up to its commitments to honest and fair elections.
