BISHKEK (AFP) – Kyrgyzstan on Tuesday was set to begin intense coalition bartering after five parties won seats in parliament, with fierce nationalists unexpectedly emerging as the strongest force in the Central Asian nation's elections.

While President Roza Otunbayeva hailed the elections as a landmark moment in the turbulent history of Kyrgyzstan and U.S. President Barack Obama said the polls proved the nation was committed to democracy, a report said ""the authorities were plunged into a state of shock"" over the results.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that Moscow fears ""difficulties"" in Kyrgyzstan after the election.
A source in the government told Russia's Kommersant newspaper in the capital Bishkek that the victory of the virulently nationalist Ata-Zhurt party, which is believed to be connected to ousted president Kurmanbek Bakiyev, was a blow to the interim government.
According to results from the central election commission based on 100 percent of precincts, Ata-Zhurt unexpectedly won the most votes with some 8.88 percent.
The pro-government Social Democratic Party was close behind on 8.04 percent, while the pro-Moscow Ar-Namys party of ex-prime minister Felix Kulov came third on 7.74 percent.
The Republic Party was fourth on 7.24 percent and another pro-government faction Ata-Meken fifth with 5.6 percent.
A total of 29 parties contested the polls and a minimum five percent of the vote was required to enter the Zhogorku Kenesh parliament.
Two of the top three parties -- Ata-Zhurt and Ar-Namys -- have vowed to roll back recent constitutional changes and restore a presidential system. Such a move would be welcome in Moscow which has said a parliamentary republic would not work in a country wracked by violence.
The move would be a blow to the interim government which has championed a shift to a parliamentary model since it took power after an April uprising that ousted Bakiyev.
Clashes between ethnic-majority Kyrgyz and minority Uzbeks left between 400 and 2,000 people dead in the south of the country in June.
Many analysts fear a repeat of inter-ethnic violence in the country.
Kyrgyzstan, which hosts both Russian and US military bases, voted on Sunday under a new constitution for a parliamentary democracy agreed earlier this year after the April revolution and deadly inter-ethnic clashes in June.
Obama on Monday congratulated Kyrgyzstan on a ""historic"" election, saying the polls proved the Kyrgyz people were committed to power transfers by peaceful, democratic means.
The Kremlin, which analysts have said favours Kulov's Ar-Namys party, has yet to issue a public statement.
-