According to preliminary results, incumbent Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has been clearly re-elected in Kazakhstan’s presidential elections. According to the election commission, the 69-year-old received 81.3 percent of the vote on Monday. Five largely unknown candidates ran for president – a woman for the first time.
The elections were originally scheduled for 2024, in September the head of state announced the early election date. It was expected that Tokayev could use it to strengthen his power. In 2019, he succeeded longtime president Nursultan Nazarbayev, who had ruled Kazakhstan with an iron fist for nearly three decades.
Arrests in Almaty
On Sunday, people in Almaty took to the streets for free elections. There was also an “incident” that led to several arrests. Details were not initially known.
In any case, international observers spoke positively about the election events in the presence of the numerous foreign journalists. Italian experts and Canadian and Mexican parliamentarians stressed that they had not found any irregularities in the polling stations they visited.
According to official figures, the turnout was almost 70 percent. In the ninth largest country in the world, 20 million citizens were called to the polls and 8 million exercised their right to vote. More than 10,000 polling stations had been set up across the country.
“New Kazakhstan” promised
During the election campaign, Tokayev had promised a “New Kazakhstan” with democratic progress and economic reforms. However, the economic problems in Central Asia’s largest country remain, as do the authoritarian reflexes of its leaders.
Source: Krone
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