Kyrgyzstani constitutional referendum, 2010

The Constitutional referendum in Kyrgyzstan was held on June 27, 2010. The Kyrgyz voted on a constitutional amendment in the existing presidential system should be transformed into a parliamentary republic.

Starting position

The referendum was scheduled after the former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev was ousted in April 2010 and an interim government under Roza Otunbayeva took power. The draft was since 25 April for discussion and was widely seen as a test of the legitimacy of the transitional government, which also linked their fate to the output. The conduct of the vote had been taken in advance in doubt, as the weeks before were overshadowed by serious unrest between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks. The referendum was followed by the first general election on October 10, 2010.

Content

The proposal for the new constitution was designed on the German model. Kyrgyzstan should order that the first Central Asian state to be with a parliamentary democracy. It should also be done with the Act on the Introduction of the new Constitution confirming the transitional government of President Roza Otunbayeva. There was only the possibility for yes or vote no.

Results

According to the first analysis of the official Electoral Commission on 28 June voted 90.7 per cent of the voting participants for a constitutional amendment and 7.96 percent against it. The official results should be announced no later than two weeks after the election date. The turnout was nearly 70 percent of slightly less than two million voters.

International observers from the OSCE spoke of a free vote in spite of the difficult conditions because of the previous riots. The Kyrgyz government stressed that involved many Uzbeks in the election.

Reactions

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev doubted the success of the constitutional reform and the ability of Kyrgyzstan, to be transformed into a parliamentary democracy.