Kazakh President reelected, Indians monitored polls

New Delhi
5 December 2005

Eight Indians were among the 913 international
observers who monitored Sunday's presidential election in Kazakhstan.
The Indian delegation included the deputy chief election commissioner of
India and the chief electoral officer of Bihar.

According to information made available by the Embassy of Kazakhstan
in India, President Nursultan Nazarbayev won the seven-year term for
the second time. The last elections were held in 1999.

President Nazarbayev has ruled oil-rich Kazakhstan since Soviet times.
He later told reporters that Kazakhs had thrown their support behind
"peace and development." "It's not about revolution but evolution,'' he
said, contrasting Kazakhstan's vote to the election-sparked uprisings that
have swept away long-standing leaders in the former Soviet republics of
Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan.

As per the preliminary results, 75.52 per cent of Kazakhs turned out to
vote. The number of registered voters was 8.8-odd crore. Some voters
preferred to vote by using the electronic voting system.

President Nazarbayev received 61-odd lakh votes or 91.02 per cent of the
votes cast. Zharmakhan Tuyakbai was the runner-up, bagging 6.64 per
cent of the votes (4.45-odd lakh votes.)

There were five candidates in all. Alikhan Baimenov came in third with
1.65 per cent.

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