Kyrgyzstan has a constitution. They just can't find it.

The central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan approved its current constitution just six years ago, in 2010, and on Wednesday, the Kyrgyz parliament was debating whether to allow a new referendum this year to consider a constitutional amendment. In the process, the representatives asked about the location of the original document, and that's when they found out no one knows where it is.

There are copies, of course, so it's not like the content is unknown, but the original's location is a mystery. Justice Minister Jyldyz Mambetalieva told the parliamentarians she believes the constitution is in the president's office, but the president says it's with the justice minister. "That raises the question: Where is the original?" a representative of the president helpfully summarized.

The practical implications of the missing document may be few, yet for a former Soviet republic that has had three constitutions in the last three decades, the apparent carelessness with which the document was stored is symbolically troubling. Some Kyrgryz have suggested the entire situation may be a ploy to distract the people from dangerous constitutional changes.