04.04.2011, 10:40 5337

Nazarbayev won Kazakhstan's election with 95.5 percent of votes

According to the preliminary results of the Central Election Commission, Nursultan Nazarbayev has won Kazakhstan's election with 95.5 percent of votes, chair of the Central Election Commission, Kuandyk Turgankulov, said at a briefing.

Astana. April 4. Kazakhstan Today - According to the preliminary results of the Central Election Commission, Nursultan Nazarbayev has won Kazakhstan's election with 95.5 percent of votes, chair of the Central Election Commission, Kuandyk Turgankulov, said at a briefing, Kazakhstan Today reports.

Election officials in Kazakhstan have declared long-serving President Nursultan Nazarbayev the overwhelming winner of a vote held this weekend, FoxNews reported.

The Central Election Commission unveiled incomplete provisional figures Monday showing Nazarbayev with 95.5 percent of votes cast.

CED chairman Kuandyk Turgankulov told reporters the partial official results showed the three other candidates failed to collect more than 2 percent of the vote.

Zhambyl Akhmetbekov, head of the Communist People's Party of Kazakhstan, received 1.4 percent of the vote and pro-government Senator Gani Kasymov of the Party of Patriots 1.9 percent. Independent and environmentalist Mels Yeleusizov picked up 1.2 percent.

A total of 22 people applied for candidacy, but 18 of them were out of the race either because they had not passed the Kazakh language test or failed to collect enough supporter signatures.

Under the Kazakhstan election law, a presidential candidate should master the Kazakh language and collect at least 91,010 supporter signatures.

The registered electorate is around 9.1 million in a nation with a population of 16.4 million. The candidate who wins over 50 percent of the votes will become the new president. The turnout in Sunday's vote is estimated at nearly 90 percent.

Nazarbayev, 70, has been president of the mineral-rich Central Asian country since 1991 when Kazakhstan gained independence after the disintegration of the Soviet Union. He is backed by the largest political party in Kazakhstan - Nur Otan (Fatherland's Ray of Light).

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