The commission said more than 90 per cent of voters in Saturday's referendum backed the amendments, which also restrict the powers of parliament in the mountainous Central Asian state.

"In total, 96.26 per cent of Kyrgyzstan's 2.27 million eligible voters took part in the referendum," commission chairman Sulaiman Imanbayev told reporters. "Of those, 2.07 million, or 90.92 percent said `yes'."

Land ownership was the most important of five constitutional amendments proposed by president Askar Akayev which voters had to accept or reject as a package. Another change approved in the referendum strips parliament of its right to discuss budget spending without government consent. Akayev, who already holds sweeping powers, complained that the legislature was "interfering too much" in theeconomy.

Economists say private land ownership will give a strong impetus to the economy in a country where 60 per cent of the 4.5 million population live in rural regions.

The referendum result means Kyrgyzstan will be the first Central Asian state to introduce private land ownership. Elsewhere in the vast ex-Soviet region farmers are only allowed to rent land from the state.

The 53-year-old leader Akayev, both a talented physicist and a Communist Party propaganda official in the Soviet era, possesses wide powers and can reshuffle the government at will. He even appoints district judges personally.

Casting his ballot on Saturday, Akayev told reporters his relations with parliament would remain "normal" and even "more close". But his critics in parliament called this into question.

"This will be a completely ceremonial `pocket' parliament,"parliamentary deputy Zhybar Zheksheyev said.