Head of the Kyrgyz interim government Roza Otunbayeva has arrived in the southern Kyrgyz city of Osh to take part in Sunday's referendum on the constitution, a government official said on Saturday.
"Head of the interim government Roza Otunbayeva will vote on Sunday in one of the regions of Osh," Roza Daudova said.
She said the Kyrgyz authorities had decided to allow citizens to vote from wherever they were on the day of the referendum as a result of the huge numbers of displaced people in the country following ethnic clashes between ethnic Kyrgyz and minority Uzbeks in Osh and neighboring Jalalabad in early June.
The official death toll stands at 275, although government officials say the figure could be up to 10 times higher. Over half a million people were displaced, many taking refuge in neighboring Uzbekistan, and over 1389 houses were burnt down.
On June 23 Otunbayeva signed a decree allowing people who lost passports or documents during the tragic events in Osh and its surrounding regions, to vote in the referendum.
Regional authorities in Osh and Jalalabad began issuing identification cards on Thursday to people who had lost documents during the unrest.
Sunday will be the first election in Kyrgyzstan since the overthrow of former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev in April. The referendum will ask voters to approve or reject the draft constitution, which proposes curtailing the president's powers and converting Kyrgyzstan into a parliamentary republic.
Voters will also be asked to endorse Otunbayeva as president until December 31, 2011. She will not be entitled to run for president in the October 2011 elections.
The new Kyrgyz president will enter office in January 2012.
Otunbayeva said on Friday around 170 international observers will monitor the referendum. Another government official reported on Saturday that around 7.5 thousand police officers and the same number of voluntary helpers were being deployed to ensure security during the vote.
OSH (KYRGYZSTAN), June 26 (RIA Novosti)
