BISHKEK, July 10: Kyrgyzstan’s acting President Kurmanbek Bakiyev won Sunday’s presidential elections by a landslide, a broadcast from the central election commission said, echoing earlier exit poll reports.

“We can say now Kurmanbek Bakiyev has won by a landslide. We only don’t know the precise percentage of the votes he received,” said a Kyrgyz television presenter anchoring a press briefing broadcast live from the central election commission.

If the numbers are confirmed, he will lead the impoverished Central Asian state whose post-Soviet leadership under Askar Akayev was ousted in a March uprising against a flawed parliamentary poll.

The West has repeatedly said free and fair polls would add legitimacy to the country’s new leadership and set a good example of democracy for authoritarian regional neighbours.

Official results are due after 8 a.m. (0200 GMT) on Monday, but an exit poll conducted by three Kyrgyz pollsters had earlier put Mr Bakiyev well ahead of five other hopefuls with a national average of well above 80 percent of all ballots cast.

“Kurmanbek Bakiyev has surely won by a landslide in the capital Bishkek,” central election commission head Turgunaaly Abdraimov told the live broadcast. “But let’s not be in a hurry and wait for the final result (in the whole of the country).—Reuters