Kyrgyz opposition rejects Bakiyev win

BISHKEK: Kyrgyzstan's president won a second term by an overwhelming margin on Friday, but opponents and Western observers harshly criticized the election in the Central Asian country, a focus of U.S.-Russian rivalry.

Washington and Moscow have military air bases in the country, which lies in the vast, conflict-prone region north of Iran and Afghanistan. Both have expressed concern about what they see as a rise in Islamic militancy in the region.

The central election commission said President Kurmanbek Bakiyev had won 85.4 percent of Thursday's vote, with 73 percent of ballots counted. Opposition rival Almazbek Atambayev, who has denounced the vote as rigged, had 7.5 percent.