BISHKEK, March 27: The new leaders of Kyrghyzstan, brought to power by a lightning revolution in the Central Asian state, met with the head of Europe’s leading security organization on Sunday as they struggled to end a parliamentary split that threatened a fragile return to calm. The general secretary of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Jan Kubis, held talks with Kurmanbek Bakiyev, whom parliament named acting president ahead of new presidential elections set for June 26, along with other interim officials.

The regime of Askar Akayev was toppled last Thursday amid chaotic opposition demonstrations protesting the results of a March 13 parliamentary runoff vote seen as fraudulent by much of the population, the OSCE and other observers.

Several opposition figures such as Bakiyev have been tapped to fill the power void pending the new presidential elections.—AFP