OPPOSITION activists held local government officials hostage as thousands protested in Kyrgyzstan yesterday to demand the President’s resignation after flawed elections.

However, in a televised address, President Akayev accused the Opposition of trying to seize power illegally and to “throw the country into an abyss of civil war”. He vowed to punish the protesters and added: “No one except for a handful of political opportunists needs revolutions and disturbances.”

The tense stand-off in the former Soviet state highlighted the ripple effects of the Orange Revolution in Ukraine and the Rose Revolution in Georgia — both sparked by rigged elections. Kyrgyz democracy activists are now calling for a “tulip” or “lemon” revolution, accusing Mr Akayev of packing parliament with his relatives and allies in an attempt to prolong his rule.

The Opposition won just six out of seventy-five seats in parliament in the second round of the election on Sunday, after the first on February 27.

The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe and the United States said that both rounds fell short of democratic standards, echoing their criticisms of the polls in Ukraine and Georgia.

Around 5,000 demonstrators, many wearing pink silk ribbons, gathered yesterday in the southern city of Jalalabad, where 150 activists have occupied the governor’s office for the past ten days. The protesters set up a “people’s council”, with its own budget and security force, to run the region.

“We will not back off on our demand that Akayev must resign,” Kurmanbek Bakiyev, a former Prime Minister and now an opposition leader, told the crowd. “Akayev, go,” demonstrators responded, even though they were surrounded by riot police and soldiers.

Mr Bakiyev plans to run in a presidential election in October, but he failed to win a seat in parliament in the second round. Several other opposition leaders, including Rosa Otunbayeva, a former ambassador to Britain, were blocked from running in either round because they had been living overseas.

Analysts said that the election results called into question Kyrgyzstan’s reputation as an outpost of democracy in the region and could halt Western aid money. Kyrgyzstan is one of the poorest countries in Central Asia, but it is considered strategically important as it borders China and plays host to an American and a Russian military base.

President Akayev has promised to step down for the October election, but the Opposition fears that now his allies and relatives in parliament will change the Constitution or call a referendum to prolong his rule. Among those who won seats were Aidar, his son, and Bermet, his daughter.

Elsewhere, about 3,000 protesters who occupied a regional government building in Talas, about 250 miles west of Bishkek, the capital, held the regional and district governors hostage for a second day, demanding that the results be overturned because of fraud. On Monday more than 10,000 people seized a district administration building in Uzgen and forced election officials to admit fraud, throw out initial run-off results and declare the opposition candidate the winner.

In the run-up to the election, Mr Akayev repeatedly told the Opposition that any attempt to start a Ukrainian-style revolution would trigger a civil war.

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