Kyrgyzstan's President Kurmanbek Bakiyev AP PHOTO

"This is an open intention to seize power in an unconstitutional way," the government said.

The rejection followed five days of anti-government rallies and an extraordinary overnight session of a rump parliament, in which 38 opposition deputies signed a new constitution that would curtail the powers of the president.

The opposition, which had declared the creation of a constituent assembly to draft the new basic law, claimed that the 38 signatures were enough to make the draft law because it was a majority of the 75-seat legislature.

It was the latest opposition challenge to President Kurmanbek Bakiyev in Kyrgyzstan's deepest political crisis since the March 2005 uprising that brought the leadership to power on pledges of political reform. The opposition says Bakiyev has not delivered on those promises.

The Japan Times Weekly: Nov. 11, 2006
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