Summary "I ask all my supporters not to engage in protests," Tashiyev told reporters
BISHKEK (AFP) - Kyrgyzstan s election officials said Monday they had excluded a key opposition candidate accused of assaulting an opponent from participating in a parliamentary vote this week.
The Central Election Commission said they had removed the name of Kamchibek Tashiyev, co-chairman of the Respublika-Ata-Jurt opposition party, from the list of candidates.
The move came after police opened a criminal case over allegations that Tashiyev, a former boxer, beat up a rival candidate on Saturday.
Tashiyev denied allegations he broke the ribs of a candidate from the rival Onuguu-Progress party and says he was "provoked" during a row.
"I ask all my supporters not to engage in protests," Tashiyev told reporters.
"Ahead of elections, everything should be calm in Kyrgyzstan."
Tashiyev, a nationalist, served as emergencies minister under the authoritarian government of ex-President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who was ousted in a bloody revolution in 2010.
He has been involved in violence and controversy in the past.
In 2011, he brawled with an MP during a heated parliament session a day after allegedly knocking out a member of his own party who refused to relinquish his seat in the legislature.
In 2013, he was convicted on charges of violently attempting to seize power after leading a group of supporters over the gates of parliament.
But another court in the Central Asian country overturned the convictions of Tashiyev and two of his allies at the end of a session where their supporters reportedly hurled shoes at the judge.
A total of 14 parties will compete in Sunday s vote for seats in the 120-member parliament, with no single party allowed to claim more than 65 seats.
Kyrgyzstan is the only non-authoritarian state in ex-Soviet Central Asia.
Despite a relatively free media and vibrant civil society, the impoverished, Russia-allied republic has suffered periodic bouts of political instability for more than a decade.
