(MENAFN- Qatar News Agency) Polling stations opened in Kyrgyzstan on Sunday for the voters to elect the country's parliament for the next five years. The voting started at 8:00 a.m. local time (02:00 GMT) and will last till 8:00 p.m. (15:00 GMT).
Fourteen parties have been officially registered to compete for seats in the 120-member parliament, the Jogorku Kenesh. To make it into the parliament a party needs to clear a 7% threshold and at the same time get the approval of more than 0.7% of voters in each region. According to government data, more than 2.7 million of citizens have registered their biometric data, (Sputnik) news agency reported.
Opinion polls suggest that out of 4-5 parties that will be able to meet the electoral threshold, the ruling Social Democratic Party (SDRK), under its leader President Almazbek Atambayev, is likely to sustain its hold on government. The Ata-Meken party is also likely to gain parliamentary seats on Sunday, along with Onuguu-Progress party, which is particularly popular in the country's rural regions.
The Bir Bol party, which includes a long list of well-known politicians, is expected to become one of the newcomers in the next Kyrgyz parliament.
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