Kyrgyz leader vows secure and legitimate presidential polls

Shortly before the election silence day began in Kyrgyzstan on Saturday, the country's interim leader Roza Otunbayeva vowed to make the forthcoming presidential polls secure and legitimate. First presidential polls after last April's overthrow of Kurmanbek Bakiyev will be held in the country on Sunday. Otunbayeva, who is an interim state leader until December 31, is barred from running in the polls. "State authorities and law-enforcement agencies will provide conditions for a vote within the legal framework," she said in a televised address to the nation. "For the first time in our modern history the incumbent president is not taking part in the elections and does not resort to various tricks to stay in office. On the contrary, the leader is a neutral figure, an unbiased guarantor of free and democratic elections," Otunbayeva went on. She expressed hope that the new president will end the country's transitional period and bring the country, which suffered six months of political unrest and ethnic violence in 2010, to the path of long-term stability and development. Out of 83 people, who initially applied for the candidate status, only 16 remain in the presidential race so far. Seven officially registered candidates have recently withdrawn from the elections, including three on Thursday. More than three million ballots have been printed for the polls. A total of 725 international observers from 47 international organizations have been accredited.