DUSHANBE, October 28, 2011, Asia-Plus — In Tajikistan, some 100 Kyrgyz nationals are expected to cast votes in Kyrgyzstan’s presidential election on October 30.
A polling station has been opened at the Kyrgyz Embassy in Dushanbe. “In Tajikistan, there are about 100 Kyrgyz nationals eligible to vote,” said the source in the Kyrgyz diplomatic mission. “Most of them are Kyrgyz students studying at Tajik universities.”
The election follows the 2010 Kyrgyz riots, during which the incumbent President Kurmanbek Bakiyev was ousted by protesters and an interim government led by Roza Otunbayeva was formed. An election and reform plan was unveiled on April 19, 2010. However, Ata-Zhurt, which backed Bakiyev, won a plurality in the Kyrgyzstan’s parliamentary election, 2010 amid a platform of rolling back constitutional changes enacted by the interim administration.
The incumbent Otunbayeva has stated she will not run in the election. Under the new constitution, the presidential term is six years long, but barred from re-election.
Eighty-three candidates filed to run in the election by the deadline of August 16, 2011. 16 candidates were nominated by parties, while the rest self-nominated. The candidates have to collect 30,000 signatures, pay a fee of 100,000 Kyrgyz soms and pass a televised language test. Only twenty candidates qualified to run in the election of the 83 who were nominated.
