Kyrgyz citizens have voted overwhelmingly in favour of a new constitution, in a referendum that international observers said was largely transparent and peaceful. The changes mean the leader of the interim government, Roza Otunbayeva, will now serve as president until the end of 2011 and the Constitutional Court will be abolished.
The new constitution paves the way for Kyrgyzstan to be declared a parliamentary republic, with a president's powers being largely devolved to parliament.
The referendum was held just two weeks after violent clashes between Kyrgyz and Uzbek ethnic groups in the southern cities of Osh and Jalalabad. Officials say some 200 people were killed in the conflict, although observers believe the death toll could be 10 times that. An estimated 400,000 people - many of them from the minority ethnic Uzbek community - were displaced.
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