Voters in Kyrgyzstan approve constitution reform

Voters in Kyrgyzstan have approved a set of controversial constitutional reforms that strengthen the hand of President Almazbek Atambayev and boost the executive powers of the prime minister. 

Official preliminary results showed that almost 80 percent of the voters had thrown their support behind the reforms.

The election commission said that only 40 percent of eligible voters had participated in Sunday's referendum.

The amendments have been promoted by the incumbent president, with the aim of boosting the prime minister’s powers.

The amendments would allow the prime minister, Atambayev's ally Sooronbay Jeenbekov, to appoint and dismiss cabinet ministers and regional governors without parliamentary or presidential approval. The prime minister would also gain new powers over shaping the government budget.

The proposed amendments have been criticized by opposition groups, which claim that they could allow President Atambayev to shift into the prime minister’s seat after his current term ends next year to prolong his rule. Atambayev has denied harboring such intentions.

Constitutionally, Atambayev is limited to only one presidential term, which will come to an end in 2017. He came to power in 2011.

Kyrgyzstan has a parliamentary political system, in which the president, himself elected in national elections, appoints an acting prime minister, who will then have to be confirmed by the Supreme Council in the parliament to become full prime minister.

This is the seventh time the country has put constitutional changes to vote since gaining independence from the former Soviet Union in 1991.

Kyrgyzstan last voted for a constitutional amendment in 2010. The constitution was supposed to remain unchanged until 2020. But the parliament and judiciary said this year that new constitutional reforms need to be proposed and put to referendum.

Over the past 25 years, Kyrgyzstan has seen the violent overthrow of two presidents, one in 2005 and the other in 2010.

Kyrgyzstan, with a population of six million, is one of the two poorest countries to emerge from the former Soviet Union with a strong dependence on cash remittances sent home by hundreds of thousands of Kyrgyz migrants working in Russia.

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