Polling stations opened for parliamentary elections in Kyrgyzstan at 8 a.m. local time [2 a.m. GMT] throughout the country, the Central Election Commission (CEC) said.
"All district election commissions started working on time, at 8 a.m., no incidents have been reported," a CEC spokeswoman said.
The Central Asian country is holding parliamentary elections on Sunday that will lead the country into a new legitimate government after the former president, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, was ousted in April of this year in a bloody revolution.
Kyrgyz President Roza Otunbayeva said during an address to the nation on Saturday that the elections will create a new system of government.
The new system of government in Kyrgyzstan will consist of a single-chamber parliament that will choose a prime minister by a majority vote. The premier will govern the nation, whereas the president will hold a symbolic role with virtually no powers.
Otunbayeva, who was named president after Bakiyev fled the country, will remain president until the end of 2011, after which a new president will be elected. She has no right to run for president.
Twenty-nine parties will compete for seats in Kyrgyzstan's 120-member parliament, which will see its powers increase as part of constitutional changes approved in late June in a national referendum.
Russia hopes the elections will help promote stability in the Central Asian republic, which is still recovering from the ethnic violence that swept through the country's south in June.
BISHKEK, October 10 (RIA Novosti)
