New Delhi
10 July 2005
It's only been a fortnight since she arrived in India on a Government
of India scholarship to study information technology but Altynay Abdukarimova from
Kyrgyzstan did not want to miss the chance of taking part in Sunday's polls for electing a
new president.
Altynay was one of several registered voters who visited the embassy of Kyrgyzstan in
New Delhi to cast their votes. "It is important for me to vote for a great future. I hope this
election brings some change in our lives," she told this correspondent.
Sunday's presidential election was the first widely-acknowledged free and fair polls in
the central Asian republic after violent protests against a flawed parliamentary election
and subsequent ouster of former president Askar Akayev.
Another student, Aibek Eshaliev said it was an important day for him. "Many things
depend on these elections," he said, "We have the chance to choose our future." He too
is in India on a scholarship for studying at NIIT.
A five-member election committee monitored the elections. The chairman of this
committee, Ms Ainura Asamidinova, said that additional voters were registered in the
morning as many of them had come from outside of Delhi.
The Kyrgyz embassy said most of the registered voters in India were students with a
sprinkling of Kyrgyz women with Indian spouses. Polling began at eight in the morning
and went on till eight in the evening.
The embassy said officials from the Indian mission in Bishkek have been invited to join
observers from other countries to monitor the election and to ensure the first-ever free
and fair poll since its independence.
Acting president of Kyrgyzstan Kurmanbek Bakiev is one of six candidates contesting
the elections. The preliminary results of the presidential elections were expected to
trickle in by Monday morning.
A candidate has to win at least 50 per cent of the votes cast. The embassy said if no
candidate wins an absolute majority a second round between the two candidates with the
most votes will be held two weeks later.
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