Head of OSCE Centre in Bishkek concerned about reports on referendum irregularities

BISHKEK, 22 October 2007 - The head of the OSCE Centre in Bishkek, Ambassador Markus Mueller, said today he was concerned about reports of irregularities during yesterday's referendum on constitutional reform.

"A high number of irregularities were reported by several domestic non-partisan observation groups. Domestic observation teams reported that they observed massive ballot stuffing by members of precinct election commissions, use of administrative resources to bring people to polling stations, obstruction of domestic observers by local authorities and members of election commissions," he said.

"The observers also noted that the population had little awareness of the constitutional reform proposals that were being decided on in the referendum. This fact may raise serious questions about the voter turnout of more than 80 per cent, which was preliminarily reported by the Central Election Commission of the Kyrgyz Republic."

Ambassador Mueller added that he hoped that authorities would take immediate action to address these reported violations and seek to prevent a recurrence of such allegations in the future.

"This is of utmost importance in the upcoming early parliamentary elections that will follow today's presidential decree dissolving the Parliament," he said.