BISHKEK -- Kyrgyzstan's election commission has announced the final preliminary results of last month's parliamentary elections following the manual count of all ballots, with six parties set to enter the new legislature.
According to the results released by the Central Election Commission (BShK) on December 7, three pro-government parties won seats in the Jogorku Kenesh (Supreme Council): Ata-Jurt (Fatherland) Kyrgyzstan, Yntymak (Harmony), and Ishenim (Trust).
Butun (United) Kyrgyzstan, Alyans (Alliance), and Yiman Nuru (Ray of Faith) also passed the 5 percent threshold to get in. Butun Kyrgyzstan has been in the opposition, while the other two parties have been affiliated neither with the government nor the opposition. However, Alyans on December 6 announced it would side with the opposition in parliament.
The final official results of the elections are to be announced no later than 20 days after the polls, which will falls on December 18.
Four opposition parties that failed to pass the 5 percent barrier -- Ata-Meken (Homeland), Azattyk (Liberty), the Social Democrats, and Uluttar Birimdigi (Union of Ethnicities) -- have accused the BShK of fraud and called for a new vote.
At issue was a glitch during the counting in which technical problems caused a tabulation monitor at the commission to suddenly show that several opposition parties had fallen below the 5 percent threshold.
The BShK and President Sadyr Japarov have insisted that the glitch was not intentional and affected only data displayed on the screen without affecting the results themselves.
However, a full hand count of the ballots was ordered in an attempt to allay the complaints raised by the opposition.
According to the preliminary results announced by the BShK on December 7, Ata-Jurt Kyrgyzstan won 17.3 percent of vote, Ishenim 13.63 percent, and Yntymak 10.99 percent in the November 28 elections.
Butun Kyrgyzstan had 7.04 percent, Alyans 8.34 percent, and Yiman Nuru 6.15 percent.
Azattyk leader Ismail Isakov said his party planned to join other opposition parties that failed to enter the legislature to set up a "people's parliament" that would "propose ideas to the government."
Street protests in the former Soviet republic have sparked government ousters three times in the past two decades, including after disputed parliamentary elections last year that swept Japarov to power after he was sprung from prison.
The Central Asian country adopted a new constitution in a referendum in April that lowered the number of seats in parliament from 120 to 90, and changed the system of voting for candidates, with 54 seats being selected by party list and the remaining 36 in single-mandate districts.
