A Kyrgyz woman, right, reads her ballot at a polling station in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Sunday, Oct. 15, 2017. Kyrgyzstan headed for the polls on Sunday for a presidential election where no candidates are expected to win outright and observers predict a close runoff between two pro-Russian candidates, one of whom is backed by the outgoing leader. (AP Photo/Vladimir Voronin)
October 15, 2017 - 9:13 AM
MOSCOW - Preliminary results from the presidential election in Kyrgyzstan show the governing party's candidate winning.
The RIA-Novosti and Interfax news agencies reported that Kyrgyzstan's elections commission said Sunday that Sooronbai Jeenbekov had received about 55 per cent of the vote, based on a count of ballots from 95 per cent of polling stations
In second place was Omurbek Babanov, one of the former Soviet central Asian republic's richest people. Babanov is the candidate of a party that allies nationalist and business-friendly positions.
Both served as prime ministers under President Almazbek Atambayev. The Kyrgyzstan Constitution allows the president to serve only one six-year term.
A total of 11 candidates were on the ballot.
News from © The Associated Press, 2017