This Sunday, 27 June 2010 Kyrgyzstan will hold a referendum on the adoption of a new constitution. The referendum, administered by a new (interim) Central Election Commission (CEC), will be held just 80 days after the violent overthrow of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev. Adding to the usual challenges of holding an electoral event within such a short timeframe, recent ethnic Kyrgyz-Uzbek conflicts in Kyrgyzstan’s south has left hundreds dead and at least 300,000 people displaced, creating a state of emergency.

The conflict raised talks of postponing the referendum entirely or partially; however, the provisional government declared the vote will go forward as planned, in all regions of the country. Officials have issued a number of decrees in an attempt to accommodate would-be voters, such as waiving identity document requirements for refugees, creating mobile voting stations in the affected regions and calling on the authorities in neighboring Uzbekistan to facilitate voting for citizens of Kyrgyzstan who have fled the country. Meanwhile, the OSCE/ODIHR cancelled its planned 300 short-term observer mission and called back its staff from the Osh and Jalal-Abad regions. It is clear this referendum will not be a typical electoral event.

Under these trying conditions, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) continues to actively assist the provisional government and CEC to prepare for Sunday’s referendum. IFES is providing daily technical advice to the CEC on issues ranging from voter registration to the security of election materials. A program to rapidly train up to 25,000 commissioners representing every polling station in the country, including Osh and Jalal-Abad, has been ongoing throughout June. These trainings will be completed on Friday, just in time for the vote. To further assist polling station commissions, IFES developed and distributed handbooks, posters and reference guides to all regions. Together with the OSCE Center in Bishkek, IFES co-sponsored trainings for journalists and various media organizations on reporting and covering elections. At the request of the CEC, IFES developed additional handbooks for the international observer community. On Friday, IFES will also train US Embassy personnel who will serve as observers of Sunday’s referendum.

Difficulties for Kyrgyzstan’s governing authorities remain and will not end with the referendum. Procedures for mobile voting, identification and registration of voters and vote tabulation still need to be worked out in the remaining days before the vote. IFES will continue to assist the CEC up to and through referendum day to ensure the greatest degree of administrative accuracy is achieved in these difficult circumstances. IFES will then switch immediately into preparations for the parliamentary elections, currently planned for early October.