Ballot paper.

1. To participate in the voting, a voter shall receive a ballot paper, which is a document of strict reporting. The form and degree of its protection shall be defined by the Central Election Commission. The number of ballot papers cannot exceed the number of registered voters by more than 0.1 percent. (Paragraph 2 lost its effect in accordance with the constitutional Law of the Kyrgyz Republic No 88 dated April 23, 2015)

2. The text and form of the ballot paper shall be approved by the Central Election Commission not later than 25 calendar days before the voting day. The text of the ballot paper shall be placed only on one side.

3. During presidential elections the ballot paper contains the surname, first name, patronymic name, year of birth of the candidates in the order determined by drawing of lots.

4. During the elections of deputies to the Jogorku Kenesh, the ballot paper shall contain the names of political parties in the order determined by lot.

5. To the right of the information about candidates and names of political parties specified in parts 3 and 4 of this article an empty square shall be printed. At the end of the list of candidates, political parties, the line “Against all” shall be placed with an empty square to the right of it.

6. The ballot papers shall be printed in the state and official languages no later than 10 calendar days before the voting day. Each ballot paper should contain an explanation of the procedure of filling it, the information on its manufacturer and the circulation. The ballot paper should be printed on paper, the density of which does not allow seeing the voter’s mark on the back side of the ballot paper. The polling stations shall be equipped with special stencils for filling of ballots by persons with disabilities, including ballots papers in Braille.

7. After the rejection of defective ballots the printing house transfers the ballots under the act to the members of the Central Election Commission. After the transfer of ballots in the presence of at least 3 members of the Central Election Commission, in the presence of representatives of candidates, political parties, representatives of the printing house, the mass media, the law enforcement agencies the rejected and extra ballots are destroyed and an act is drawn up to be signed by all persons present.

8. The Central Election Commission shall hand over the ballot papers to the territorial election commissions under the act in the presence of at least half of the members of the territorial election commission. Representatives of candidates, political parties, non-commercial organizations and mass media shall have the right to be present at the handover of ballot papers. Territorial election commissions hand over ballot papers to the precinct election commissions under the act in the presence of at least half of the members of the precinct election commission. Representatives of candidates, political parties, non-commercial organizations and mass media shall have the right to be present at the handover of ballot papers.

9. The handover of ballot papers to the respective territorial election commissions shall be carried out 10 calendar days before the voting day, in case of repeated voting - 5 calendar days before the voting day, and to the precinct election commissions – one or two calendar days before the voting day. The number of ballot papers handed over to the precinct election commission should not exceed the number of voters included in the voter lists for the polling station by more than 0.1 percent. The ballot papers are signed by the chairperson and the secretary of the precinct election commission with the appropriate stamp of the election commission.

10. In the event of withdrawal of candidates or lists of candidates after the manufacturing of the ballot papers, the precinct election commissions shall cross out the data on the respective candidates or lists of candidates in the ballot papers. Crossing out is done by a straight line on the lines of recording all data on a candidate, a political party and should be done only with a ballpoint pen. In this case, the crossing line should also capture the empty square placed to the right of the line with the data about a candidate or a name of a political party.

11. The room where the ballot papers, voter lists and other electoral documents, the seal of the relevant election commission, are kept in a special safe (closet), shall be sealed and handed over to the internal affairs agencies. On the voting day the safe (closet) should be located inside the premises of the polling station where the voting takes place.

12. It is prohibited to take out ballot papers from the premises of printing houses or electoral commissions, as well as to copy and distribute them in violation of the requirements of the present constitutional Law.

(In the version of the constitutional Laws of the Kyrgyz Republic No 116 dated August 8, 2019; No 88 dated April 23, 2015; No 96 dated June 5, 2017)