Over 77pc of Kazakh voters support constitutional amendments: early results

More than 77 per cent of Kazakh voters who participated in the Sunday referendum expressed support for the constitutional amendments, Chairman of the Central Election Commission Nurlan Abdirov said.

The turnout at the Sunday referendum was 68.44 per cent, according to Kazakhstan's Central Election Commission.

"The number of citizens who voted for a positive decision on the issue, submitted to the republican referendum, amounted to 77.18 per cent, which is 6,163,863 people, of those who took part in the voting in all regions of the country. This amounted to an absolute majority in each of the 17 regions," Sputnik quoted Abdirov as saying.

Earlier, results from an exit poll conducted by Astana's Institute for Integrated Social Research showed that constitutional amendments were supported by 76.7 per cent of the voters, while 23.3 per cent opposed the changes.

In early May, President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed a decree that scheduled the referendum on constitutional amendments for June 5. The amendments based on citizens' requests aim to create a legal framework for Kazakhstan's transition from a super-presidential model to a presidential republic, strengthening the role of the country's parliament.

In late May, former Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev announced his intention to support the proposal to exclude provisions on his special status from the country's constitution during the upcoming referendum.

Earlier, Tokayev had approved the National Action Plan to implement the reforms promised in his March 16 state of the nation address "New Kazakhstan: The Path of Renewal and Modernization".

Proposing Constitutional reforms to limit the powers of his office, Tokayev last month had said the Central Asian Country needs to switch from "super presidential" rule to political modernization with a focus on the role of citizens in governing the state, including through electoral processes.

( With inputs from ANI )