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Kyrgyz Communists call for cancelation of referendum

RIA Novosti

14:12 22/06/2010 BISHKEK, June 22 (RIA Novosti) - The Communist party of Kyrgyzstan urged the interim government on Tuesday to cancel Sunday's referendum on the new Kyrgyz constitution due to violent ethnic clashes in the south of the country.

If adopted, the new Kyrgyz constitution will completely reform the Kyrgyz political system and turn the Central Asian state into a parliamentary republic.

However, a number of senior Kyrgyz officials have denounced the decision to press ahead with the referendum after a week of violent clashes in the south in which up to 2,000 people may have been killed.

"The country is on the verge of war, and the interim government's decision to go ahead with the referendum is immoral and blasphemous. After all, stability is more important than power," the Communist Party said in a statement.

The party leaders earlier suggested that the parliament, which was dismissed by the interim government in April's coup d'etat, should be convened again to vote on the new constitution. However, 80% of the parliament is made up of members of deposed president Kurmanbek Bakiyev's Ak Zhol party, which the interim government accuses of corruption and instigating unrest in the south of the country.

The communists agree with the interim government's view that constitutional reform is vital for the future stability of the country.

"Without denying the necessity of constitutional reform, the communist party believes that the vote, in the form proposed by the interim government, will not allow the people to express their views," the statement reads. "We think it is appropriate to cancel the June 27 referendum and find other ways to legitimize the existing government,"

The communists say the referendum would be undemocratic, because it will ask citizens to approve three unrelated issues - the draft constitution, the interim president and the decision to dismiss the constitutional court.

"It would be more democratic if citizens could vote on each of the issues separately," the party said.

The Kyrgyz interim government last week introduced amendments stating that the referendum could be canceled if the state of emergency in its south is not lifted.