IFES Election Guide - Election Profile for Kyrgyzstan

Election Profile:

Overview

Results

Of Interest/Links

Sources

Country: Kyrgyzstan
Official Name: Kyrgyz Republic
Election Type: Presidential
Date: July 23, 2009

Source for election date

At stake in this election:

The office of President of Kyrgyzstan

Description of government structure:

Chief of State: President Kurmanbek BAKIEV
Head of Government: Prime Minister Igor CHUDINOV
Assembly: Kyrgyzstan has a unicameral Supreme Council (Jorgorku Kenesh) with 90 seats.

Description of electoral system:

The President is elected by absolute majority vote through a two-round system to serve a 5-year term.
The Prime Minister is nominated by parliament.**
In the Supreme Council (Jorgorku Kenesh) 90 members are elected through a closed-list proportional representation system to serve 5-year terms.***

** The prime minister is nominated by the parliamentary party which holds more than 50% of the seats. The nomination must then be approved by the president. If no party holds more than 50% of seats, the president may select the party that will nominate a prime minister.

*** The electoral system is closed list PR. Parties must clear a threshold of five percent of registered voters nationwide. They they must clear a second threshold of 0.5 percent of all registered voters in each of the country's seven regions, plus the cities Bishkek and Osh.

** After the February 27th elections, the parliament will become a unicameral body with 75 seats.