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Monday 27 Apr 2015 - 13:49 Makkah mean time-8-7-1436
 Astana (IINA) – Nursultan Nazarbayev has won 97.7 percent of the vote in Sunday's presidential election in Kazakhstan, securing a new five-year term, according to the Central Election Commission citing early data.
Nazarbayev, 74, has ruled oil-rich Kazakhstan since 1989. The Central Asian country's marginalized opposition did not put forward any candidates for the election and Nazarbayev ran against two candidates widely seen as pro-government figures, Al Jazeera reported. Kazakhstan, with an estimated population of 17 million people, is surrounded by Russia and former Soviet countries. Nazarbayev, officially titled Leader of the Nation, is a former steelworker who promoted market reforms. With the help of more than $200bn in foreign direct investment, he has turned his steppe nation into the second largest economy in the former Soviet Union and No 2 post-Soviet oil producer after Russia.
Turgun Syzdykov, a 68-year-old former provincial official who campaigned on an anti-globalization platform, represented the Communist People's Party of Kazakhstan. Abelgazy Kusainov, 63, who has held several important governmental positions and currently heads the national federation of trade unions, stood as an independent after running a campaign touching on Kazakhstan's environmental problems. With the oil capital halved in value due to falling oil prices and the Russia-Ukraine tension creating uneasiness in the country, the snap elections were called to bring in more stability to the country.
Senate leader Kassym-Jomart Tokayev stressed on Sunday the importance of implementing programs of state reform directly associated with Nazarbayev and his campaign. "Today we vote for the prosperity and progress of Kazakhstan," he said. "This is not an election, it is a re-election," said Dosym Saptaev, director of the Kazakhstan Risks Assessment Group, a think-tank based in the largest city Almaty.
HA/IINA
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