Kyrgyzstan votes overwhelmingly for presidential system in referendum

Populist Sadyr Japarov was on the path to an easy win on Sunday in Kyrgyzstan’s presidential election, the first vote following recent political upheaval in the Central Asian country. [ . . . ] A referendum held in parallel showed Kyrgyz strongly preferring presidential rule, which would grant Japarov sweeping powers when a new constitution is passed, most probably later this year. The referendum vote spells the end of political system adopted a decade ago to tame authoritarianism after two successive strongman presidents were ejected from power during street protests in 2005 and 2010. Just over 10 percent supported a parliamentarian system.
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