Off the wire
• Nonferrous metals profits decline Jan. to Aug.  • Roundup: U.S. air raids on hospital in N. Afghanistan draw wide condemnation  • Beijing conserves more water in 2014  • Rare ancient tomb found in North China  • Taiwan dengue fever cases top 20,000  • Turkish Super League soccer results/standings  • Visitors capped at first glass bridge  • News Analysis: Divisions over drug protections hamper TPP deal  • APEC dialogue on food security, blue economy kicks off in C.Philippines  • China, U.S. to top agenda of WB, IMF annual meetings in Peru  
You are here: 　 Home

Kyrgyzstan kicks off parliamentary elections

Xinhua, October 4, 2015 Adjust font size:

Kyrgyz quinquennial parliamentary elections started Sunday with more than 2,000 polling stations across the country and 36 abroad open at 8:00 a.m. local time (GMT 0200).

Fourteen parties are competing for 120 seats in the parliament (Jorgorku Kenesh). The Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan (SDPK), Ata-Meken (Fatherland) party, the Respublika Ata-Jurt (also Fatherland) party and Bir Bol (Unity) took the lead in the race, showed the latest opinion polls.

In order to take a seat in parliament, parties must obtain at least 7 percent of the vote nationwide, and not less than 0.7 percent of the vote in each of the seven regions of the country, as well as in Bishkek and Osh.

A new system was installed to automatically read the ballot box to ensure the transparency and fairness of the elections.

The Kyrgyz authorities also carried out a campaign for the collection of voters' biometric data. All citizens had to submit their data and fingerprints to be eligible for the vote.

The polls will close at 8:00 p.m. local time (GMT 1500). Endi