Over 3.7M people will go to 2,494 polls across country to choose members of parliament that will serve for 5 years.
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (AA) – Kyrgyzstan will hold parliamentary elections on Sunday to choose the members of the parliament who will serve for the next five years.
Over 3.7 million people will go to 2,494 polls across the country. Some 59 ballot boxes will be set up in 29 countries for citizens living abroad.
A total of 21 parties and hundreds of district candidates campaigned for 90 seats in the single-chamber parliament.
Under President Sadyr Japarov’s rule, the constitution, the new election law, the number of seats in the Supreme Council, and the conditions for being elected deputies were rearranged.
According to the new regulation, parties should pass the %5 election threshold to participate in the parliament and get at least %0.5 of the votes in seven regions, including the capital Bishkek and Osh.
The candidate lists of the parties were prepared considering the quota for youth, gender equality, minorities, and the disabled.
The elections will be monitored by 730 foreign observers, including representatives of the institutions of Turkey.
Voting will start at 8 a.m. local time (0200GMT) and end at 8 p.m. (1400GMT).
The political campaign of parties and independent candidates that started their election propaganda on Oct. 29 will end at Friday midnight.
Atamsha Dursunov, the head of the Ahiska Turks in Kyrgyzstan, told Anadolu Agency that he registered as an independent candidate.
Dursunov conducted the election campaign in the Issyk Ata district of the Chuy Region in northern Kyrgyzstan. Some 96,000 voters are registered in the region, where 11 candidates are competing.
Sahip Suliyev, another Ahiska Turk competing to enter the parliament, is on the candidate list of the El Umutu Party (People’s Hope Party).
– What happened?
Following the Oct. 4 parliamentary elections last year, demonstrators stormed the parliament and other buildings and clashed with police, demanding new elections.
In response, the election authority annulled the election results, and President Sooronbay Jeenbekov, who had been ruling the country for three years, resigned.
While the parliament’s mandate was extended, presidential elections and a constitutional referendum were held.
The people of Kyrgyzstan elected Japarov the president, and in the constitutional referendum, they preferred the presidential system over the parliamentary system.