Kyrgyzstan's former premier Temir Sariyev will run in what is expected to be a tightly-contested presidential vote in the Central Asian country later this year, his party said on Saturday.

Kyrgyzstan, a mountainous majority-Muslim republic of six million, is the most democratic of the so-called "stans" but also the most politically volatile.

In its 25 years of independence, the country has experienced two revolutions unseating presidents in 2005 and 2010 as well as ethnic violence that killed over 400 people.

A spokeswoman for his Ak-Shumkar party said that the party had "taken a decision to put forward the candidacy of Temir Sariyev" for the vote which is likely to take place in the autumn.

Sariyev, 53, resigned from his post as prime minister last April after becoming embroiled in a graft scandal less than a year into his tenure.

While his opponents accused him of intervening in a state tender on behalf of a Chinese company bidding to build a road in the landlocked country, charges were never pressed.

Analysts saw the accusations as linked to political infighting in the turbulent republic where some six prime ministers have taken office in the last six years.

Sariyev, who was a businessman before he became a politician, is thought to have good relations with key ally Russia after overseeing Kyrgyzstan's entry into the Eurasian Economic Union trade bloc driven by Moscow.