But Otunbayeva told Reuters she was confident of winning a mandate on Sunday to create Central Asia's first parliamentary democracy even without the support of voters in the south, where over 250 people — and possibly far more — died in the ethnic clashes two weeks ago.

Otunbayeva said in an interview that huge numbers of refugees who fled the violence had now returned home, but admitted that some ethnic Uzbeks may not want to vote.

"These are people who are afraid to leave their homes not because they will be blown up, or some such, but because they simply fear to go out," she said. "For these people we are ready to bring ballot boxes straight to their homes."

Nearly all the 100,000 refugees who fled the conflict have returned from Uzbekistan, UN aid agencies said on Friday, but many are in dire need of shelter because their homes have been destroyed.

Voters will decide whether to support the interim government's plan to devolve more power to parliament in a region otherwise ruled by presidential strongmen. Otunbayeva has rejected calls to postpone the vote on security grounds.

"The referendum will take place all the same," she said in the interview. "In the north, there will be a big turnout ... People will come to the polling stations and will mostly vote 'yes'."

The United States and Russia, which both have military air bases in the ex-Soviet republic, say they would support a strong government to contain the spread of violence in a region close to Afghanistan.

Otunbayeva needs a yes vote to gain legitimacy to a government that has never formally been voted in, and to pave the way for formal diplomatic recognition. She said she would lift a curfew in the south and deliver the ballot boxes to allow people to vote.

"We want to create conditions for voters not to be denied their political rights," she said. "If we obtain a positive result, we will have legitimate authorities."

Many ethnic Uzbeks living in Kyrgyzstan say they will ignore the referendum. Some are afraid to leave their neighborhoods, while others say their non-participation will be a protest against Kyrgyz authorities who were unable to stop the carnage.

Otunbayeva said there was no minimum turnout required for the vote. "It would be great if the turnout was 50 percent, but even if it is 40 percent or 37 percent, it will be good all the same and the referendum will be valid," she said.
 

Many Uzbeks interviewed by Reuters in the southern city of Osh, Kyrgyzstan's second largest, complained that police and army servicemen aided ethnic Kyrgyz in attacking their homes.

Otunbayeva declined to say who was to blame for the bloodshed, saying a national report would be made public after a thorough investigation. She has previously said up to 2,000 people may have been killed.

The fact that the country's police and armed forces were mainly ethnic Kyrgyz was a problem for the country, she said, particularly in southern regions where the population breakdown is roughly equal between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks.

"This monoethnicity must be now reversed and eradicated," she said. "All the country's ethnicities must make part of the army."

Under the new charter, Otunbayeva would remain interim president until the end of 2011, before stepping aside. Parliamentary elections would be held every five years and the president limited to a single six-year term in office.

"I believe we are now choosing a different country," she said. "We are not building a presidential republic."