BISHKEK/OSH, (Reuters) – Kyrgyzstan’s leader said yesterday the country had voted to create Central Asia’s first parliamentary democracy, in a landmark referendum only two weeks after an explosion of ethnic bloodshed killed hundreds.
Roza Otunbayeva said Kyrgyzstan had embarked on a path to establishing a “true people’s democracy” in contrast to previous presidential systems in the former Soviet republic. She made her comments before the release of preliminary official results.
“The new constitution of the Kyrgyz republic has been approved,” Otunbayeva told a news conference in the capital Bishkek after earlier voting amid heavy security at a university in Osh, her home city and epicentre of the violent clashes.
“We are proud of our people. We are proud of our country, which made this choice at a difficult hour.”
At least 283 people, and possibly hundreds more, died this month in violence between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in southern Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet republic that hosts U.S. and Russian military air bases and shares a border with China.
Results from more than half of all polling stations showed 89.7 percent had voted in favour of change, the Central Election Commission said on its website, www.shailoo.gov.kg.
