Today Kyrgyzstan is holding more elections to the parliament of the republic – the Jogorku Kenesh.
2338 polling stations, located across the country, opened at 08:00 am local time (05:00 Moscow time) and will operate until 20:00 (17:00). Another 36 stations will operate outside the country, including 6 in Russia.
Around 2500 representatives of 14 parties are aiming at the 120 seats in the parliament. They need to overcome a double percentage barrier in order to enter the Jogorku Kenesh: they need to get at least 7% in the whole country and at least 0.7% in each of its regions. Analysts have no doubt that this can be done by all the current parliamentary parties - the Social Democratic Party of President Almazbek Atambayev, 'Ata-Meken' and the tandem of the parliamentary opposition 'Republic - Ata-Jurt'. In addition, it is not ruled out that in the Jogorku Kenesh of new convocation they can be joined by 'Bir-Bol', on the list of which well-known politicians are included, as well as the parties 'Butun Kyrgyzstan Emgek', and 'Onuguu-Progress'.
At today's elections, more than 2.7 million people are endowed with rights to vote. One of the innovations in these elections is related to this – they have all passed a biometric registration. Arriving at the station, voters can cast their vote only after comparison of fingerprints with those stored on the database. Absolutely all polling stations have automatic reading boxes.
No turnout requirements exist in the parliamentary elections in Kyrgyzstan, they will be considered valid regardless of the turnout.
The progress of the voting is being observed by more than 600 observers from 69 countries and 40 international organizations.
According to head of the Central Electoral Commission of the republic, Tuigunaaly Abdraimov, the elections are being carried out without significant violations. "Voting has started and it is being held normally, smoothly," RIA Novosti quotes him as saying.
"We expect that the turnout may reach 70%. Traditionally, voter turnout in Kyrgyzstan is 60-65%, but this time it may exceed this figure, because the parties have conducted an active election campaign," Abdraimov said, adding that most activity is usually generated by the regions. Bishkek, on the contrary, votes inactively.
