Nazarbaev declared winner with over 97 percent of Kazakh vote

Last updated (GMT/UTC): 27.04.2015 07:27

By RFE/RL

A man walks past an election banner of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev in Almaty.

Kazakhstan's Central Election Commission says President Nursultan Nazarbaev has won a fifth term with 97.7 percent of the vote in the weekend election.

Victory for Nazarbaev was never in doubt, and CEC head Kuandyk Turgankulov said on April 27 that voter turnout was a record 95.22 percent.

In power for more than a quarter-century, the 74-year-old president has sidelined opponents and kept tight control over the media in the energy-producing Central Asian nation.

Nazarbaev's two rivals in the election were seen as pro-government figures who joined the race to present the illusion of competition.

After casting his own ballot on April 26, Nazarbaev portrayed a vote for him as a vote "for the stability of the state" and the continuation of his policies.

Critics say he has maintained power by suppressing dissent, curbing free media, and "illegally" changing the constitution.

The landslide election result and high official turnout figure will allow Nazarbaev to claim a strong mandate to lead the nation for the next five years.

But they will deepen concerns about the state of democracy in Kazakhstan and could spawn allegations of fraud.

Nazarbaev has ruled with limited opposition since before Kazakhstan gained independence in the Soviet breakup of 1991.

The former steelworker has promoted market reforms and, with the help of the sprawling steppe nation's oil and gas deposits and more than $200 billion in foreign direct investment, turned Kazakhstan into the second-largest economy in the former Soviet Union.

But many of his opponents and critics have had to leave the country, and some have been killed or died in controversial circumstances.

A former member of the Soviet Union's ruling Politburo, Nazarbaev has said he wants to build a strong and prosperous state before launching democratic reform.

Kazakhstan's next presidential election had been scheduled for 2016, but the vote was moved up to April 26 after a national assembly chaired by Nazarbaev decided it should be held early to "ensure the continuity of the current policy."

The country is experiencing an economic slowdown as a result of last year's plunge in world oil prices and the international sanctions against top trading partner Russia over its interference in Ukraine.

In an article published ahead of the vote, Nazarbaev said the vote would give the elected president a clear mandate to lead the country through potentially troubled times.

The election is widely believed to have been moved up to quash any speculation about a successor and eliminate the risk that economic troubles could become severe enough to hurt his chances of recording a convincing victory.

Many voters standing in long queues at polling stations in the capital and the second city, Almaty, cited a "civic duty" to vote.

A poll released this week by Ipsos-MORI polling agency showed 91 percent of Kazakhstan's citizens are satisfied with Nazarbaev's rule.

Nazarbaev is officially titled "Leader of the Nation."

His ruling Nur Otan party controls nearly all facets of everyday life in the nation of 18 million.

Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev appointed Nazarbaev as the Kazakh Communist Party's First Secretary in 1989, and on April 24, 1990 his title was changed to President of Kazakhstan.

Nazarbaev was reelected in December 1991, weeks before the Soviet Union ceased to exist. In 1995, his term was prolonged until 2000 through a referendum.

He then won an early presidential election in 1999, a poll in 2005. and another early election in 2011 – in which he officially received nearly 96 percent of the vote – after engineering a legal amendment that exempted him from a limit of two consecutive presidential terms.

None of the elections has been judged free and fair by international vote monitors.

Ahead of the vote, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), whose election and rights arm ODIHR is monitoring the poll, expressed concerns about Nazarbaev's "institutional advantage."

In an interim report, the OSCE noted that Nazarbaev billboards and posters were "visible throughout the country," unlike the two candidates running against him.

The report said that "closures and sanction of independent media" and the threat of criminal prosecution for defamation have stifled the media environment.

It said that Nazarbaev was "actively touring the country" as president despite an announcement he would not campaign for reelection, and that the government had "not addressed" previous OSCE recommendations regarding electoral legislation.

Monitors from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) dismissed Western concerns of a lack of competition and praised the election, as they often do after votes in former Soviet republics with close ties to Russia.

The head of the mission, CIS Executive Secretary Sergei Lebedev, said on April 27 that "we did not observe serious violations that could impact the outcome."

Lebedev, who was Russia's foreign intelligence chief from 2000-2007, said there were "a few purely organizational issues."

With reporting by RFE/RL's Kazakh Service, AP, Reuters, and AFP

Link to original story on RFE/RL website