KYRGYZSTAN’S INTERIM government last night claimed victory in a controversial referendum, held just two weeks after 2,000 people were killed and tens of thousands were left homeless in ethnic violence.
Rosa Otunbayeva, the country’s acting leader, said she had won overwhelming support for her plan to create a new parliamentary system. “The new constitution of the Kyrgyz republic has been approved,” she said in the capital Bishkek, adding: “We are proud of our country, which made this choice at a difficult hour.”
The ballot was designed to legitimise the government and to replace the country’s abuse-prone presidential system. The new European-style model is a first in central Asia, which is run by authoritarian “super-presidents”. A new government would be formed on July 10th, Ms Otunbayeva said, without a “temporary” tag.
But international observers and human rights groups criticised the timing of the poll, which took place against a backdrop of the worst ethnic violence in central Asia for 20 years. They also warned the vote could exacerbate divisions between the north and south of the country and hasten its break-up, or lead to civil war.
“Unsurprisingly there’s not much interest in the referendum from parents who are unable to bathe and clothe their children,” Save the Children said. It added: “For most families, safety, security and a return to normality are more important than voting.”
Ms Otunbayeva – who is now enshrined as central Asia’s only female leader – voted in Osh, the southern city where entire Uzbek districts were torched by Kyrgyz mobs. She admitted Kyrgyzstan was in a dangerous situation but said the former Soviet republic would now “heal the wounds” it had sustained.
In some Uzbek parts of Osh voting was reported to be brisk. In one central polling station Uzbek and Kyrgyz voters cast their ballots together. “We have to support this referendum, because it should not just be the president that takes decisions,” Nazir Mamataliyev, a 55-year-old ethnic Uzbek and barber said.
But in areas where thousands of Uzbeks were camping out in schools and courtyards, few people voted. The UN estimates that 400,000 Uzbeks have been displaced by violence. The central election committee claimed 56 per cent of a possible 2.7 million voters had cast ballots by the afternoon, a figure the opposition said was deliberately exaggerated.
The temporary government took power in April after violent street protests in Bishkek forced the president, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, to flee. Bakiyev is now in exile in Belarus. He has opposed the move to a parliamentary system, which he says will be unable to take decisions in what is a highly clan-dominated society.
Voters were asked whether they approved of a new constitution. If it is adopted, parliamentary elections will be held every five years, with a largely ceremonial president elected for a six-year term.
Riots erupted in Osh on June 10th, and spread to nearby Jalalabad. An apparent dispute between Uzbek and Kyrgyz youths escalated into what Uzbeks said was genocide.
Survivors said Kyrgyz soldiers using armoured personnel carriers, acting with the apparent complicity of the army, police and local administration, opened fire on men, women and children. A civilian Kyrgyz mob then looted and burned Uzbek homes.
The UN estimates that the violence displaced 400,000 Uzbeks in the south of the country, with 75,000 fleeing across the nearby border into Uzbekistan.
Most have now returned and are staying in makeshift accommodation, but rights groups say the situation remains tense.
Uzbeks have also complained of harassment from Kyrgyz security forces. Fyodor Lukyanov, editor-in-chief of Russia in Global Affairs, said: “I can’t imagine how you can have a referendum in a situation of de facto civil war. The local authorities hope to legitimise themselves . . . I’m afraid the dangers for Kyrgyzstan have just started.”
Russia and the US have airbases in the north of the country but have been reluctant to commit peacekeepers.