Kyrgyzstan holds referendum despite warnings
Kyrgyzstan voted on a new constitution aimed at creating a parliamentary democracy by ignoring warnings.
OSH:
Kyrgyzstan voted on Sunday on a new constitution aimed at creating a parliamentary democracy, ignoring warnings that the referendum risked inflaming ethnic tensions after deadly clashes.
The interim authorities have defiantly pressed ahead with the vote despite horrific clashes between minority Uzbeks and majority Kyrgyz earlier this month that killed hundreds and sparked fears the country faced collapse.
Respectable numbers were showing up to cast their ballots in the southern city of Osh -- the epicentre of the violence -- with the situation calm and no reports of unrest, an AFP correspondent reported.
The initial nationwide turnout after the first hours of voting was a robust 26.33 percent, the election committee said, a participation hailed by deputy interim government leader Omurbek Tekebayev as "unprecedented".
"It rejects the myth that Kyrgyzstan is collapsing, that there is a civil war," he said.
The new constitution would slash the powers of the president and is the centrepiece of the interim government's blueprint for a new Kyrgyzstan after it came to power amid April riots that toppled president Kurmanbek Bakiyev.
Bakiyev was blamed by the authorities for last month's bloodshed. "We will show the world that Kyrgyzstan is united," said interim leader Roza Otunbayeva as she cast her vote in Osh. "We want to heal ourselves from the pain that struck as a result of the tragic events."
Polling stations in the vote, which was being held under the tightest security with thousands of police on duty nationwide, are to close at 8:00 pm (1400 GMT) and first results are expected on Monday. The authorities temporarily lifted a curfew in the south -- imposed in the wake of the violence -- so that the vote can go ahead. It will be reimposed after the vote and run from 9:00 pm until 6:00 am, Otunbayeva said. "I voted 'yes' so that the situation gets better.
Many Uzbeks have suffered and several members of my family died. I am scared but I came to vote," said Dlora Kazakbayeva, an Uzbek woman, after voting in Osh.
The new constitution -- if adopted -- will make the former Soviet republic ex-Soviet Central Asia's first parliamentary democracy in a region notorious for authoritarian leaders. The referendum will set the stage for parliamentary elections that authorities have scheduled for early September to bring in a permanent government. But several international observers warned the referendum is a premature step so soon after the violence.
Human Rights Watch said the referendum threatens to make the situation "even more volatile" while the International Crisis Group urged the government to reconsider the holding of the poll.
The list of voters was the main problem for the referendum and up to 16 percent of the electorate in some regions would not be able to vote, a total of some 200,000 people nationwide, Tekebayev admitted. But he said the outside fears were unfounded and also slammed Russian President Dmitry Medvedev for suggesting last week that the country risked "Afghanization", or breaking up.
"It is possible they have been disinformed, that they are blindly believing the officials from their special services who have long been at the service of the local oligarchs," he said.
The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the West's main election monitoring body, said it would not send a planned mission of 300 observers to oversee the vote because of security concerns. However large-scale violence has ceased and authorities said on Saturday that all 75,000 people who fled the violence to neighbouring Uzbekistan had now returned.
The clashes were the worst ethnic violence to hit impoverished Kyrgyzstan since it gained independence with the collapse of the Soviet Union nearly two decades ago. Victims of the unrest have told AFP that the violence was a brutal and orchestrated campaign by armed Kyrgyz militias targeting Uzbeks, who make up about 14 percent of Kyrgyzstan's population of 5.3 million.
Kyrgyzstan voted on Sunday on a new constitution aimed at creating a parliamentary democracy, ignoring warnings that the referendum risked inflaming ethnic tensions after deadly clashes.
The interim authorities have defiantly pressed ahead with the vote despite horrific clashes between minority Uzbeks and majority Kyrgyz earlier this month that killed hundreds and sparked fears the country faced collapse.
Respectable numbers were showing up to cast their ballots in the southern city of Osh -- the epicentre of the violence -- with the situation calm and no reports of unrest, an AFP correspondent reported.
The initial nationwide turnout after the first hours of voting was a robust 26.33 percent, the election committee said, a participation hailed by deputy interim government leader Omurbek Tekebayev as "unprecedented".
"It rejects the myth that Kyrgyzstan is collapsing, that there is a civil war," he said.
The new constitution would slash the powers of the president and is the centrepiece of the interim government's blueprint for a new Kyrgyzstan after it came to power amid April riots that toppled president Kurmanbek Bakiyev.
Bakiyev was blamed by the authorities for last month's bloodshed. "We will show the world that Kyrgyzstan is united," said interim leader Roza Otunbayeva as she cast her vote in Osh. "We want to heal ourselves from the pain that struck as a result of the tragic events."
Polling stations in the vote, which was being held under the tightest security with thousands of police on duty nationwide, are to close at 8:00 pm (1400 GMT) and first results are expected on Monday. The authorities temporarily lifted a curfew in the south -- imposed in the wake of the violence -- so that the vote can go ahead. It will be reimposed after the vote and run from 9:00 pm until 6:00 am, Otunbayeva said. "I voted 'yes' so that the situation gets better.
Many Uzbeks have suffered and several members of my family died. I am scared but I came to vote," said Dlora Kazakbayeva, an Uzbek woman, after voting in Osh.
The new constitution -- if adopted -- will make the former Soviet republic ex-Soviet Central Asia's first parliamentary democracy in a region notorious for authoritarian leaders. The referendum will set the stage for parliamentary elections that authorities have scheduled for early September to bring in a permanent government. But several international observers warned the referendum is a premature step so soon after the violence.
Human Rights Watch said the referendum threatens to make the situation "even more volatile" while the International Crisis Group urged the government to reconsider the holding of the poll.
The list of voters was the main problem for the referendum and up to 16 percent of the electorate in some regions would not be able to vote, a total of some 200,000 people nationwide, Tekebayev admitted. But he said the outside fears were unfounded and also slammed Russian President Dmitry Medvedev for suggesting last week that the country risked "Afghanization", or breaking up.
"It is possible they have been disinformed, that they are blindly believing the officials from their special services who have long been at the service of the local oligarchs," he said.
The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the West's main election monitoring body, said it would not send a planned mission of 300 observers to oversee the vote because of security concerns. However large-scale violence has ceased and authorities said on Saturday that all 75,000 people who fled the violence to neighbouring Uzbekistan had now returned.
The clashes were the worst ethnic violence to hit impoverished Kyrgyzstan since it gained independence with the collapse of the Soviet Union nearly two decades ago. Victims of the unrest have told AFP that the violence was a brutal and orchestrated campaign by armed Kyrgyz militias targeting Uzbeks, who make up about 14 percent of Kyrgyzstan's population of 5.3 million.