(Itar-Tass) - President of Kyrgyzstan Kurmanbek Bakiyev signed in a ceremony on Thursday a new version of the country's Constitution that satisfies both the power and opposition.
The new version of the Fundamental Law of Kyrgyzstan was approved by the country's parliament late on Wednesday by an overwhelming majority of votes (only one against) in the first and the second final reading at once, reports Trend.
The draft Constitution was passed by a 65-1 vote with sixty-seven of 75 MPs present.
The new Constitution increases the number of seats in the parliament from 75 to 90. Half of the parliament will be elected by party lists. The prime minister will be nominated by the political party that received over 50 percent of votes in elections. The nomination has to be confirmed by the parliament.
The parliament will also confirm the structure of the government to be proposed by the prime minister. The president will appoint ministers to be suggested by the prime minister.
The new constitution allows Kyrgyzstan's residents to acquire a second citizenship and makes Russian an official language.
The incumbent president, government and parliament will carry on until the end of their terms of office. In the view of experts, Kyrgyzstan will remain a country with the presidential-parliamentary form of government, but will extended powers of the parliament.
Constitutional reform was the main demand of the opposition whose supporters have been protesting in the central square of Bishkek for almost a week. Two days ago the supporters of the president set up their tent camp in front of the parliament building. On November 7 they nearly clashed and police had to use tear gas and other special means to keep two camps apart. Seventeen policemen and nearly the same number of protest action participants were injured. The warring factions said they would stop mass protests after the adoption of the new Constitution.
Opposition supporters are dismantling their tent camp in Bishkek's central square, however, just 200-300 metres from the parliament building power supporters have resumed their meeting. Nearly 2,000 people demand the adoption of the country's Constitution in a referendum or dissolution of the parliament. The action organisers also state that they intend to make the action indefinite until their demands are satisfied. A camp of tents and yurts is pitched in the square where the action participants intend to spend the night.