Nazarbayev wins again in Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan’s president and his party, Nur Otan, have confounded the exit polls and won 88 percent of the vote in the early general election. It is another massive landslide victory for Nursultan Nazarbayev, as had been expected. The ruling Nur Otan party had been forecast to win around 77 percent of the vote, according to the exit polls.

None of the opposition parties were able to score the seven percent needed to enter parliament. But they question the independence of the organisation carrying out the exit polls. This ballot is being seen as a test of the democratic credentials of the country, which has a population of 15 million. Nazarbayev has been in power since 1989 but none of the elections have been certified free and fair by observers.

The OSCE observers have again criticised the vote as failing to meet international democratic standards, but say there has been an encouraging improvement.

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