Kazakh president wins new mandate

ASTANA, Kazakhstan — President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who has governed oil-rich Kazakhstan since Soviet times, was re- elected Sunday by an overwhelming majority, four exit polls released hours after voting ended indicated.

The exit tallies announced early today are likely to undermine any opposition opportunity to claim a miscount in Sunday’s presidential balloting in Central Asia’s most prosperous country. But complaints are likely that the government did not allow a genuinely free vote.

Election off i c i a l s planned to announce preliminary results today.

The assessment of international election observers likely will play a key role in how the opposition responds to the elections. A prominent mission led by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe was expected to issue its initial assessment of the vote late today, as was a group of observers from the Russian-led Commonwealth of Independent States.

The largest exit poll, surveying some 300,000 people, found Nazarbayev winning 86.9 per cent of the vote, giving him an overwhelming mandate for a new seven- year term. The poll was conducted by the Association of Sociologists and Political Analysts.

Another poll of some 16,000 voters by the Kazakhstan Institute for Social and Political Information think-tank put his support at 77 per cent, with 13.4 per cent voting for Zharmakhan Tuyakbai, one of four challengers.

Two other exit polls also put Nazarbayev’s support above 80 per cent, with Tuyakbai receiving less than 10 per cent.

Nazarbayev, who has governed for 16 years, often shows an authoritarian streak, and opposition candidates claim their campaigns have been hindered by the theft of campaign materials, seizure of newspapers backing them and denial of attractive sites to hold rallies.

Nazarbayev, whose two previous election victories were widely criticized as undemocratic, said: “ This year’s elections are being held in unprecedented democratic conditions.”

Seventy- five per cent of the electorate, about 6.7 million people, voted, the Central Elections Commission said.

Bolat Abilov, campaign chief for Tuyakbai, said late Sunday that Tuyakbai observers saw many violations, including people being excluded from voter lists and some voters being ordered to cast ballots for Nazarbayev.

Kazakh officials have alleged the opposition plans post-election disturbances similar to protests in Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan over the past two years that helped bring opposition figures to power.

Tuyakbai, who voted in Almaty, the country’s commercial capital, said if there is evidence of election fraud, he and his supporters “will use all legal means to resist.”

Kazakhstan, the world’s ninth-largest country by area, has vast oil and gas reserves that are a potential alternative to Middle East petroleum, and its stability matters greatly to the United States and Western Europe. The country borders both Russia and China.

Kazakhstan’s economy has grown by some 75 per cent over the past seven years and per capita gross national income is the equivalent of about $2,600 Cdn, about five times higher than neighbouring Uzbekistan’s.

Associated Press