Maureen, looks like good news ahead, the encumbent won the election.
Kazak President Wins Re-Election
ALMATY, Kazakstan -- Stressing his success in bringing relative stability to this former Soviet republic, Kazakstan's president easily won re-election over three opponents, initial results showed Monday.
The Central Election Commission reported that with all the ballots tallied, President Nursultan Nazarbayev got 78.3 percent of Sunday's vote.
More than 85 percent of Kazakstan's 17 million people voted, the commission said. Final results were expected later Monday.
Opposition leaders and international observers said before the election that voting would be almost irrelevant due to Nazarbayev's tactics in the campaign. He has been accused of many violations, including intimidating voters.
Kazakstan, located in Central Asia, has attracted increasing foreign investor interest due to its reserves of oil and natural gas.
Two potential challengers, including a former prime minister, were barred from running because they were arrested six months ago for attending an unauthorized meeting.
The parliament, with Nazarbayev's backing, also moved up the elections two years ahead of schedule -- a move that kept other candidates from mounting effective campaigns, international observers say.
"Of course I voted for Nazarbayev. Who else is there?" said 35-year-old Serik Abirov, who is unemployed.
Communist Party chief Serkbolsyn Abdildin got 13.5 percent of the vote. Customs chief Gani Kasimov and lawmaker Engels Gabbasov, both Nazarbayev loyalists, received 4.3 percent and less than 1 percent, respectively.
Observers from other former Soviet republics said they found no violations in visits to 15 polling stations.
However, election monitors from two opposition campaigns reported that voters had voted illegally in place of their relatives and that some monitors had been barred from polling stations.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said it had received reports of ballot-box stuffing.
Few voters, however, appeared bothered by Nazarbayev's tactics. Peace and stability were more important than immediate democratic reforms, they said.
"Nazarbayev has made errors, but in any job where there's so much to do, you make mistakes," said Natalya Petrova, a 71-year-old former doctor, after voting for the incumbent. "My God, everyone breaks the law. He's the most competent, I've got no doubt."
Nazarbayev, 58, a former metal worker, led Kazakstan during the Soviet era and became the republic's president after independence in 1991.
He has promised for years to bring prosperity and more democratic freedoms to Kazakstan. But the country faces severe economic problems, and Nazarbayev keeps tight control over the courts and media.
Still, many Kazaks credit him with keeping the national currency, the tenge, stable. They also praise him for helping develop the economy with foreign investments in the oil industry.
"I am confident that the people will vote for a calm life, economic development and freedom," Nazarbayev told reporters as he cast his own vote in the Kazak capital, Astana.
|
