Japarov wins Kyrgyzstan election: Preliminary results

Kyrgyzstan's former Prime Minister Sadyr Japarov won Sunday's presidential elections, according to unofficial results.

President of the Central Election Commission Nurjan Shaildabekova told reporters that Japarov secured around 79% of the votes, citing preliminary results.

Shaildabekova added that the voting was carried out in 2,474 ballot boxes in the Central Asian country and around 96% of the ballots were counted.

Noting that there were over 3.5 million voters in the country, Shaildabekova said that more than 1,3 million voters cast ballots in the presidential election and referendum, which corresponds to some 37%.

Voters went to the polls in Kyrgyzstan Sunday to choose a new president as well as decide on the constitutional changes in the form of government.

Shaildabekova said that almost 34% of the voters voted in the referendum. Some 81% of them voted for the presidential form of government, she added.

As many as 3.5 million registered voters started to cast their votes at 2,474 polling stations nationwide at 8.00 a.m. local time (0200GMT).

Seventeen candidates run for the presidency, including former Prime Minister Sadyr Japarov, former Parliament Speaker Adahan Madumarov, ex-head of State Committee for National Security Abdil Segizbayev.

The country also voted on its form of government: parliamentary, presidential, or no change.

If a presidential candidate gets more than half of the votes Sunday, he will be elected, and if not the top two candidates will proceed to a second round.

Sunday's election in the Central Asian country comes in the wake of protests which erupted last October after eight political parties rejected parliamentary election results, claiming the process was unfair.

The demonstrators stormed the parliament and other buildings and clashed with police, demanding new elections.

In response, the election authority annulled the election results.

Clashes between protesters and security forces left at least one person dead and 590 others injured.

The unrest had forced Prime Minister Kubatbek Boronov and Parliament Speaker Dastan Jumabekov to step down on Oct. 6.

Boronov was replaced by Japarov, who was also released from jail by protesters.