Kyrgyzstan, a geo-strategically important country that is the only one in the world to host both US and Russian military bases, held elections Sunday to create ex-Soviet Central Asia's first parliamentary democracy.

The hardline nationalist Ata-Zhurt party that topped the poll had pledged during the campaign to oust the United States Transit Centre at Manas outside the capital Bishkek, a key conduit for troops and fuel to support operations in the war-wracked country.

Akhmatbek Keldybekov, an Ata-Zhurt party leader, told AFP that the party planned on keeping its promise.

"Once parliament is formed, we will raise the issue of the withdrawal of the US military base from the territory of Kyrgyzstan. That is our position," Keldybekov told AFP.

No clear winner emerged from the election and weeks of bargaining are expected before a new government can be formed, although Ata-Zhurt slightly edged out a pro-government party, winning the right to lead any such talks.

The fate of the US Transit Centre at Manas, opened in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, has long been a subject of speculation even though it did not figure prominently in the election campaign.

Former president Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who was ousted in a coup in April, vowed to close the base last year before allowing it to stay open after receiving a significant increase in rent from Washington.

Under the deal signed last year the United States will pay 60 million dollars a year (43 million euros) to lease the Manas airbase -- more than three times what it has paid since taking over the base after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Tens of thousands of troops per month pass through Manas on their way into and out of Afghanistan, where US-led forces are fighting a growing Taliban insurgency and its loss would deal a major blow to coalition military efforts there.

Despite assurances from the country's provisional government led by career diplomat Roza Otunbayeva that Bishkek had no intention of getting rid of the base, Washington still appears to be anxious over its fate.

US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Susan Elliott was dispatched to Bishkek just days after the poll in a visit she said was at least partly devoted to discussing the future of the base with those parties that secured seats in the new parliament.

"I have already met with and discussed the issue with representatives of the political parties in the country. We have not held meetings with all of the stakeholders -- including the government -- but expect to soon," she told reporters.

Ata-Zhurt, however, is not the only party complaining about the base.

The pro-Moscow Ar-Namys party led by former prime minister Felix Kulov has said its presence may be a violation of Kyrgyzstan's membership in the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), a Russian-led regional security block.

The leading coalition in any new government will have to address the issue of the status of the base regardless of their actual views towards it, said Alexander Cooley, an expert on Central Asia at Columbia University in New York.

"They would want to do all they could to insulate themselves from opposition attacks. I think the whole coalition dynamic of this is going to push this at best to a renegotiation and at worst to a withdrawal," he said.

"Until there's a political downside domestically for attacking the base and its legal arrangements this will continue to be an enticing political issue for all parties."

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