NEWS DESK
ALMATY: Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has been re-elected for another term, according to preliminary results of the early presidential polls.
The 69-year-old – who was competing against five other candidates in the country’s seventh presidential polls – received 81.31 percent of the vote, the country’s electoral commission said. Final results are due to be announced within a week, after a tally of votes from abroad.
Independent monitors criticized the election over a lack of real opposition but Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Tokayev on a “convincing” win despite their cold personal ties over Ukraine.
The outcome was a much-expected one as Tokayev’s five opponents were virtually unknown, none of whom scored double digits, with all other candidates receiving only 5.8 percent of the votes. Election officials said the turnout was just over 69 percent among 12 million eligible voters.
“The people have clearly expressed their confidence in me and we have to justify it,” Tokayev remarked as the results emerged. Meanwhile, the mission from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) said the election lacked “competitiveness” and showed the need for legislative reforms.
The oil-rich Central Asian state sank into chaos amid protests over high living costs in January, which left 238 dead.
Tokayev Called for Early Election
Tokayev called for early elections in late September with a decree saying the polls would launch “an electoral cycle that will lead to a radical reset of the entire political system.”
The polls were announced a day after Tokayev approved a constitutional amendment to increase the presidential term from five to seven years while barring future presidents from serving a second term.
Another move was to change the capital’s name back to Astana after it was named Nur-Sultan in 2019 in a tribute to the outgoing President Nursultan Nazarbayev. Tokayev assumed office as president in March 2019, succeeding Nazarbayev, who ruled the oil-rich Central Asian nation for around thirty years. – APP/AFP
