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Kyrgyzstan starts presidential elections

Preliminary results of the Sunday elections are expected to be known already on Monday

BISHKEK, October 30 (Itar-Tass) — Kyrgyzstan starts this Sunday voting at the presidential elections, Itar-Tass learnt at the Central Election Commission on elections and referendums (CEC).

According to the election commission, all the 2,289 polling stations opened at 08.00 in the morning and will close at 19.00. Another 29 polls will work on Sunday in 23 countries, including Russia. “We are fully ready for the presidential elections,” Kyrgyz CEC chairman Tuigunaly Abdraimov assured reporters.

More than 700 international observers will monitor progress in the presidential elections in Kyrgyzstan. Another several thousands of people will be delegated by local non-government organisations, political parties and headquarters of candidates. The CEC assured Itar-Tass that not a single structure requested exit polls on Election Day.

Preliminary results of the Sunday elections are expected to be known already on Monday. However, official results will be announced only after the CEC receives and processes data from all election commissions, including those working abroad.

The ballot papers have names of 16 candidates and a line “against all”. Since six contestants for the presidential post refused to participate in the elections already after ballot papers had been already printed, members of regional commissions struck out manually for several days their names from nearly three million election documents.

According to new Kyrgyz laws, the elections will be pronounced valid irrespective of a turnout. To win in the first round, it is necessary to collect over 50 percent of the vote from among those who went to the polls. Otherwise, the second round will be held between the first two front-runners.