BISHKEK, December 12. /TASS/. Nearly 80% of voters in Kyrgyzstan have supported constitutional amendments during Sunday’s referendum, a source in the country’s Central Election Commission told TASS on Monday.
"The information on the voting results has been received from all polling stations, manual tally has been completed," the source said. According to preliminary data, 42.07% out of 2,850,000 registered voters took part in the referendum. "79.59% of those who participated in the plebiscite, voted in support of the constitutional changes while 15.4% voted against them," the Central Election Commission elaborated.
At the same time, according to the Commission, the official results of the voting will be announced in a few days, after final election protocols have been received and "the judicial proceedings that the participants of the election process may initiate, have been completed."
Free, democratic referendum
SCO Deputy Secretary General Wang Kaiwen who is leading the observer mission, said on Monday that the organization's observer mission did not receive any complaints during the constitutional referendum.
"The referendum has been held in accordance with Kyrgyzstan’s constitutional law and the country’s international obligations," he noted. The SCO observers believe that the plebiscite in Kyrgyzstan was "open, free and democratic," "there have been no irregularities that could question the referendum’s legitimacy." The SCO Deputy Secretary General also said that district election commissions had demonstrated high efficiency, technical experts had been present at all polling stations so that any possible technical issues could be solved..
Apart from the constitutional referendum, the elections of local councils (kenesh) were also held on Sunday in 405 localities across the country. The elections were conducted by party tickets in cities. The pro-presidential Social-Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan, the Respublika-Ata Zhurt (or Republic-Motherland) party, the Onuguu (Progress) party and the Kyrgyzstan party are said to have received most of the vote.
The new constitutional amendments are expected to take effect in December 2017. According to the amendments, the president’s powers will be reduced while the powers of prime minister and parliament will be expanded, moreover, a judicial reform and a reform of the law enforcement system will be carried out. The changes were initiated by the parliament members this summer while the country’s president Almazbek Atambayev supported the idea.
Apart from the constitutional referendum, the elections of local councils (kenesh) were also held on Sunday in 405 localities across the country. The elections were conducted by party tickets in cities. The pro-presidential Social-Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan, the Respublika-Ata Zhurt (or Republic-Motherland) party, the Onuguu (Progress) party and the Kyrgyzstan party are said to have received most of the vote.