Six Parties Pass Threshold to Enter Kyrgyz Parliament

Six parties will be present in the new parliament of Kyrgyzstan, the preliminary results of the general elections in the country showed Sunday.

BISHKEK (Sputnik) — With over one third of the votes counted by the election committee, the Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan, led by the country's President Almazbek Atambayev, has taken the lead with some 27 percent of the votes.

It is followed by the Ata Zhurt political party, that has been supported by some 21 percent of the voters, Kyrgyzstan party comes third with over 12 percent while Onuguu-Progress, Bir Bol and Ata-Meken political parties have been supported by 9, 8 and 7 percent of the voters respectively.

It means that the parliament's new composition will see three new parties: the Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan, Ata Zhurt and Ata-Meken parties already present in the parliament will be joined by Kyrgyzstan, Onuguu-Progress and Bir Bol political parties.

Polling stations closed, while counting of the votes has begun in the country.

Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan Temir Sariev said the elections have seen a high turnout, with over 50 percent of the electorate casting their ballots by 6:00 p.m. local time (12:00 GMT).

Law enforcement agencies of Kyrgyzstan recorded a number of violations during the elections in the republic, including bribery of voters, according to a spokesperson of the Kyrgyz Interior Ministry.

"In particular, violations have been recorded by the interior departments of the Nooken and Suzak districts as well as in the city of Jalal-Abad, where cases of bribery of voters by political parties have been registered,” the ministry spokesperson said.

According to Deputy Interior Minister Nurbay Kasymbaev, during the period of the election campaign, 70 law violations have been registered and six criminal cases have been filed.

The elections were monitored by over 600 observers from 69 countries and 40 international organizations.

Fourteen parties have been officially registered to compete for seats in the 120-member parliament, the Jogorku Kenesh. To make it into the parliament a party needs to clear a 7-percent threshold and at the same time get the approval of more than 0.7 percent of voters in each region.