Bakiyev wins election; monitors cry foul

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, July 24 (UPI) -- Kyrgyzstan's President Kurmanbek Bakiyev appears to have won re-election Friday in a contest monitors say was riddled with election law violations.

The country's election commission said Bakiyev won 85.92 percent of the vote with 70 percent of the ballots tabulated, The New York Times reported.

However, local and international election monitors said Thursday's election was marred by ballot-box stuffing, intimidation and media bias, among other infractions.

"Sadly, this election did not show the progress we were hoping for and it again fell short of key standards Kyrgyzstan has committed to as a participating state of the (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe)," Radmila Sekerinska, leader of the observer mission for the OSCE's monitoring arm, said in a statement. "The conduct of election day was a disappointment."

Bakiyev's main opponent, former Prime Minister Almazbek Atambaev, withdrew from the race Thursday before voting ended, calling on the public and international organizations to reject the outcome and demanding a new election be organized, the Times said.

"The authorities understood that they would lose an honest and free election, which is why they relied on force -- relied on force against their own people!" Atambaev said in a statement.