Kyrgyz CEC reports 84.11% of voters having chosen presidential form of govt in referendum
BISHKEK. Jan 15 (Interfax) - The presidential form of government was chosen by 84.11% of voters in the January 10 referendum in Kyrgyzstan, the Kyrgyz Central Elections Commission (CEC) said after 100% of votes had been counted.
The CEC has received protocols of the manual count of votes from all 2,474 polling stations; 84.11% of voters have chosen the presidential form of government in Kyrgyzstan, 11.27% voted for the parliamentary republic, and 4.61% voted for none of the above, the CEC said in a statement on its website on Friday.
The current Constitution, which was adopted in a referendum in 2010, says nothing about the form of government. Official sources define Kyrgyzstan as a parliamentary republic but the country actually has a mixed form of government, i.e. presidential-parliamentary.
The final voter turnout in the referendum stood at 39.35%. Out of the total number of 3,563,574 voters, 1,402,094 came to polls.
According to the CEC, 46,281 voting papers were declared invalid, and the total number of valid voting papers reached 1,355,813.
Kyrgyzstan held an early presidential election simultaneously with the referendum. According to the manual count of 99.8% of votes, 79.22% of voters supported Sadyr Japarov.
Opposition candidate Adakhan Madumarov is the runner-up with 6.77% of the vote. Businessman Babur Tolbayev ranked third with 2.36%.
The CEC press service told Interfax the Commission was due to announce the official voting results by January 24, and the new president would be sworn in afterwards. Candidates, who disagree with the results, may challenge them within 14 days from the day of election.
Japarov took office after October protests against the results of the parliamentary elections, which evolved into riots. Before running for president, he stepped down as the acting head of state and suspended his premiership on November 14.
Leading presidential candidate Japarov said on January 10, after the preliminary vote results had been summed up, that Kyrgyzstan would hold a constitutional reform within the next two months. Parliamentary elections will follow, and a new government will be instated.
Japarov said that the country would live by the current Constitution until the reform. "After the constitutional reform is accomplished, there will be a new government and a new parliament to be elected by the mixed system, both party tickets and single-member constituencies," he said
"All reforms are due to be finalized by June 1," Japarov said.
