Six candidates to run in presidential race in Kyrgyzstan

A source at the Central Commission for Elections and Referendums told Itar-Tass that the elections would be considered valid if more than 50 percent of 2.7 million voters turn up at polling stations.

On the election day 2, 333 polling stations will be open from 8:00 in the morning local time (6:00 Moscow time) until 20:00 in the evening (18:00 Moscow time). Forty-nine polling stations will work in 23 foreign countries outside Kyrgyzstan. Damir Lisovsky, the chairman of the Central Electoral Commission, said that 147,000 Kyrgyz citizens were residing abroad, of which 80,000 are staying in Russia.

According to the Central Electoral Commission, 516 international observers from 48 countries, including representatives of the OSCE, CIS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). Another 2,000 observers will represent the interests of the candidates as well as various human rights groups and public organizations in Kyrgyzstan.

Five thousand policemen will guard law and order during the polls; anther 7,000 policemen will be in the reserve.

"All necessary measures have been taken to hold open and transparent presidential elections," incumbent President Kurmanbek Bakiyev told the head of the OSCE observer mission Radmila Shekerinskaya. "We will thwart any attempts to organize disturbances within the framework of the law, we won't allow anybody to destabilize the situation in the country," Bakiyev went on to say.

According to the Central Electoral Commission, Bakiyev has the most impressive campaign fund worth about 826,000 dollars. The election fund of Almazbek Atambayev is estimated at more than 100,000 dollars. The total campaign fund of the four remaining candidates is 39,000 dollars, Kazinform cites Itar-Tass. See www.iatr-tass.com for full version.