80 percent Kyrgyz citizens support constitutional change: referendum

Preliminary results of a referendum show that 80 percent of Kyrgyz voters support the constitutional amendments to boost the powers of the country's prime minister while weakening the presidency, an electoral official said here on Sunday evening.

With almost 100 percent of the ballot papers counted by automatic calculating boxes, Nurjan Shayldabekova, chairwoman of the Kyrgyzstan's Central Election Commission (CEC), said that about 79.7 percent of voters support the changes while 15.40 percent voted against them.

The proposed changes to the main law of Kyrgyzstan would empower the prime minister to appoint the heads of local administrations without consultation with local councils, in addition to enhancing the level of control over judges.

According to Shayldabekova, the voter turnout was 41.74 percent, surpassing the 30 percent requirement for the referendum to be valid.

The final results will be declared after a manual recount of the ballot papers.

The voting took place Sunday from 08:00 a.m. local time (0200GMT) to 20:00 p.m. (1400GMT) throughout the country and abroad in the diplomatic missions of Kyrgyzstan.

Voters were asked to approve or reject the entire package of 26 proposed amendments with a single "yes" or "no" vote.

The current constitution was adopted in June 2010 after the overthrow of the ex-president, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, which changed the form of government from presidential to parliamentary.

Along with the referendum, the elections of local councils were held in 22 cities, including Bishkek, and 389 rural administrations.

About 200 international observers from 46 international organizations and 25 countries followed up the referendum and the local elections, said the CEC. Endi