<p>MOSCOW — Voters in Kyrgyzstan will cast ballots Sunday on whether to approve a new constitution that would substantially increase the president’s powers in this impoverished Central Asian nation.</p>
<p>The referendum comes three months after Sadyr Zhaparov was elected president, following the ouster of the previous president amid protests, the third time in 15 years that a leader of Kyrgyzstan had been driven from office in a popular uprising.</p>
<p>In the January election that brought Zhaparov to office, voters also approved a referendum on whether presidential powers should be increased.</p>
<p> The proposed new constitution would reduce the size of the country’s parliament by 25% to 90 seats and give the president the power to appoint judges and heads of law-enforcement agencies. It also calls for creating an advisory council that critics say could essentially become a shadow parliament or an instrument for the president to exert pressure. </p>
<p>Zhaparov last year was serving a prison sentence on charges of abducting a regional governor amid a dispute over a gold mine when he was freed by demonstrators who contested the results of the October parliamentary election.</p>
<p>Immediately after his release, Zhaparov mobilized stone-hurling supporters to evict President Sooronbai Jeenbekov from office and then took the helm as the nation’s interim leader.</p>
<p>Kyrgyzstan, a nation of 6.5 million people that borders China, is a member of Russia-dominated economic and security alliances. It hosts a Russian air base and depends on Moscow’s economic support. </p>
