Voters in Kyrgyzstan went to polls Sunday for a constitutional referendum widely expected to see incumbent leader Sadyr Japarov's powers expanded while allowing him to run for office a second time.

Kyrgyzstan’s President Sooronbai Jeenbekov (right) and Prime Minister Sadyr Zhaparov arrive for an official ceremony of a transfer of power at the Kyrgyzstan parliament in Bishkek on Friday. The nation called off a state of emergency the same day. Jeenbekov’s resignation comes after opposition groups last week seized government buildings in protest against the parliamentary election on October 4. Photo: AP

Japarov, a 52-year-old populist, has brushed aside political opponents since coming to power on the back of an October political crisis in which he was first released from jail by supporters, beginning a dizzying rise to the leadership.

He confirmed his dominance by posting a landslide victory in a presidential election in January that also saw voters indicate a preference for presidential over parliamentary rule in a parallel vote, boosting his drive to overhaul the basic law.  

Two of his opponents on the ballot and a former prime minister were arrested in the weeks after the vote as Japarov and his allies further cemented their control.  

President Vladimir Putin of Russia, a key ally, expressed support for the constitutional drive in February when Japarov went to Moscow in his first foreign visit, saying that he hoped it would bring stability to the country of 6.5 million. 

Japarov's predecessor, Sooronbay Jeenbekov, became the third Kyrgyz president to resign during a political crisis in October since the country's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

If voters back the draft constitution, presidents including Japarov will be able to run in consecutive elections once more, reversing the single-term limit imposed on leaders during an overhaul of the basic law in 2010.  

That change was championed as a safeguard against entrenchment after two revolutions in the space of five years unseated authoritarian leaders and their powerful families.