To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment has been made of the legitimacy of the first round of parliamentary elections in Kyrgyzstan; and if he will make a statement.

As I said in a press statement on 4 March 2005, I am encouraged to see that the parliamentary elections in Kyrgyzstan on 27 February were more competitive than previous elections, and that voting and the count on the day were a considerable improvement. But a number of significant shortcomings, particularly before election day, meant the elections still did not fully match up to international standards. A copy of the statement is available on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office website: www.fco.gov.uk/news/press-releases.

The UK, like its EU partners, believes that freedom of expression is fundamental to the democratic process. The pressure exerted on the independent media and the late deregistration of some candidates, for example, restricted this freedom for the voters of Kyrgyzstan.

Looking to the second round of parliamentary elections on 13 March 2005 and the presidential elections later this year, I urged the Kyrgyz authorities in my statement of 4 March to take these issues into account and seize the opportunity to set a strong example for the rest of Central Asia.