Kazakhstan holds presidential polls
April 3rd, 2011 - 10:41 am ICT by IANSAstana, April 3 (IANS/RIA Novosti) Presidential elections began Sunday in Kazakhstan that has an electorate of over nine million.
The voting at 9,700 polling stations started at 7 a.m. and will be monitored by over 1,000 foreign observers, including 357 officials from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe and 425 from former Soviet states.
According to Kazakh law, the results of elections are considered valid regardless of the voter turnout.
President Nursultan Nazarbayev, 70, called an early poll for April 3 after rejecting a planned referendum to extend his term until 2020, bypassing presidential elections scheduled for 2012 and 2017.
The Kazakh president’s decision not to hold the referendum was praised by European foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton as being in Kazakhstan’s long-term interests.
The European Union earlier warned that the holding of the referendum instead of the elections would contradict Kazakhstan’s commitment to democracy.
Nazarbayev, who has led Kazakhstan since it broke away from the Soviet Union in 1991, considers the election as a unique chance to “cement” the unity of the Kazakh people for the next five to ten years.
–IANS/RIA Novosti
sd/rd
- Kazakh president calls election fair, opposition cries foul - Apr 04, 2011
- Kazakhstan to hold early presidential elections - Jan 31, 2011
- Kazakh parliament backs referendum to extend Nazarbayev rule - Jan 14, 2011
- Kazakhstan approves early presidential election - Feb 03, 2011
- Suicide bomber targets Kazakh state security building - May 17, 2011
- Parliamentary polls begin in Kazakhstan - Jan 15, 2012
- Geologists name new mineral after Kazakh president - Dec 01, 2011
- Kazakhstan welcomes international observers for January polls - Dec 24, 2011
- Three Russian journalists detained in Kazakhstan - Dec 19, 2011
- Kazakhstan to celebrate its president's birthday, Astana's founding in July - Jun 23, 2010
- Britain eyes Afghanistan transit routes - Mar 02, 2012
- Kazakhstan launches national superhero contest - May 17, 2012
- Monkeys in Kazakh zoo get wine to keep warm - Feb 04, 2012
- Manmohan Singh calls for dynamic Indo-Kazakh relations - Apr 15, 2011
- Kazakhstan to celebrate 20 years of independence - Dec 24, 2011
Tags: ashton, democracy, electorate, european foreign policy, european union, foreign observers, kazakh people, nursultan nazarbayev, policy chief, polling stations, president nursultan nazarbayev, presidential elections, presidential polls, referendum, results of elections, ria novosti, soviet states, soviet union, term interests, voter turnout