Moscow/ Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan - Several thousand people gathered in a nationwide protest Friday of Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev ahead of elections in July.

"Our goal is for honest and transparent elections, and as a result to elect a man who will have the trust of his people," opposition leader Temur Sariev told crowds of over 1,000 in Bishkek, news agency Interfax reported.

The opposition accuses Bakiyev government of corruption and of failing in the reforms he promised to pursue as he came to power on the back of popular protests in 2005.

Smaller rallies took place in other provinces, but fell short of the number of demonstrators the opposition had expected to draw out.

The fragmented opposition has pulled together in the run up to the polls after one of its leaders was arrested and in the face of other measures critics charge the government has taken in an attempt to sideline rivals.

Sariyev and other opposition leaders announced an April 20 deadline for the government to meet their demands for greater representation in the Bakiyev's cabinet and guarantees the vote will be fair.

"If our demands are not met, the opposition will exercise its right to hold larger and larger rallies," he said.

The former hero of the revolution, Bakiyev, is widely expected to win a second term in the July 23 election, bolstered by the extraction of a pledge from Moscow last month for 2 billion dollars in aide.

But his popularity has dipped significantly as unemployment is on the rise in the impoverished state, power outages are frequent and people increasingly distrust their officials. (dpa)