BISHKEK, November 28. /TASS/. Elections to the national parliament, Jogorku Kenesh, began in Kyrgyzstan on Sunday, the country’s Central Election Commission told TASS.

"Voting on the republic’s territory began at 8:00 local time (05:00 Moscow time) and will continue until 20:00 local time (17:00 Moscow time)," a spokesperson for the Commission said.

In his words, almost 2,500 polling stations will open in the country and abroad, including 21 in Russia.

The president of Kyrgyzstan, Sadyr Zhaparov, has already cast his ballot, a TASS correspondent reported.

The head of the state voted at Polling Station No.1053, located in the village of Chon-Aryk on the outskirts of Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek.

The voting will be monitored by 736 international observers, including from Russia. The largest observer missions were sent by the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

The country has almost 3.7 million registered voters.

Kyrgyzstan has a mixed electoral system: 54 lawmakers will be elected through party lists and 36 - in single-seat constituencies. A total of 21 political parties and almost 300 candidates from single-seat constituencies are taking part. Overall, about 1,300 people have been registered as candidates.

The elections have no minimal threshold and will be declared valid regardless of how many people cast their ballot.

The previous parliamentary elections, held in the fall of 2020, were deemed invalid by the Central Election Commission due to numerous violations of the electoral law. The vote count ended in mass demonstrations and the resignation of the president and the government.