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Kazakh ruling party 'leads poll' Opposition see Kazakh vote flaws
(about 9 hours later)
Exit polls from Kazakhstan's parliamentary elections suggest that President Nursultan Nazarbayev's Nur-Otan party has won 80% of the vote. Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev's Nur-Otan party has won all seats in the new parliament, taking 88% of the vote, official preliminary results show.
Mr Nazarbayev celebrated his apparent victory with a lavish concert for supporters in the capital Astana. Opposition parties, which fell short of the 7% hurdle needed to enter parliament, said there were serious irregularities in Saturday's election.
Polls indicated the main opposition group, the National Social Democratic Party (NSDP), fell short of the 7% vote share needed to enter parliament. Mr Nazarbayev had promised the ballot would enhance democracy in the oil-rich ex-Soviet Central Asian state.
Mr Nazarbayev called the poll two years early to amend the constitution. He celebrated victory with a lavish concert in the capital, Astana.
The changes removed any limit on presidential terms in office, expanded parliament and introduced proportional representation voting. The outcome absolutely does not reflect the actual alignment of political forces and the social support they draw Burikhan Nurmukhamedova leader of the opposition Ak Zhol party class="" href="/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/6949764.stm">Q&A: Parliamentary election
While Mr Nazarbayev's Nur-Otan party was widely expected to win the snap elections, the final result will not be known until Sunday. Mr Nazarbayev called the poll two years early in order to amend the constitution, expanding parliament and introducing proportional representation but also removing any limit on presidential terms in office.
Unique position Kazakhstan has never held an election deemed free and fair by the international community, the BBC's Natalia Antelava reports from Astana.
The president, who has ruled for 18 years, told some 3,000 supporters on Saturday night: "When we get the final results tomorrow, the country will start in a new political system. But there had been hope that things would be different this time if only because of Mr Nazarbayev's ambition to turn his country into a serious international player, our correspondent adds.
"I am sure that Kazakhs have chosen the way of peace, consensus, prosperity and the improvement of the lives of all Kazakhs." He aspires to chair the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in 2009. The OSCE had hundreds of monitors at the election and is due to deliver an early verdict on its conduct later on Sunday.
The BBC's Natalia Antelava in Astana says it seems that not a single opposition party has got into parliament in elections that Mr Nazarbayev promised would bring democracy to the country. 'Profaned'
More than 1,000 international observers watched the polls, half of them from member states of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Ualikhan Kaisarov, a leader of the biggest opposition party, the National Social Democratic Party, said the election had been "utterly profaned".
class="" href="/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/6949973.stm">Low-key personality cult class="" href="/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/6949764.stm">Q&A: Parliamentary elections The main opposition party says the campaign was weighted against it
The OSCE is due to decide later this year whether to allow the Kazakh leader to chair the organisation in 2009. His party, which officially won 4.62% of the vote, had complained before polling day that it had not been allowed to run some of its adverts on national television and criticisms levelled by its leaders in one TV debate had been edited out.
While early indications suggest the NSDP may not have made it into parliament, exit polls found another opposition party, Ak Zhol, hovering near the crucial 7% vote share barrier. A leader of the Ak Zhol party, which officially won 3.25% of the vote according to the Kazakh election commission, said it did not recognise the result and insisted it had actually won about 12%.
The NSDP has complained that it was not allowed to run some of its adverts on national television and that criticisms levelled by its leaders in one TV debate were edited out. "The outcome absolutely does not reflect the actual alignment of political forces and the social support they draw," Burikhan Nurmukhamedov said, in remarks quoted by Russian news agency Interfax.
Two-thirds of Kazakh voters turned out for the elections in the oil-rich country of 15m. The party, he added, would protest to the election commission and chief prosecutor with proof of voting irregularities.
It occupies a unique position among the ex-Soviet Central Asian states for having a large ethnic Russian minority. 'Peace and consensus'
Voters were choosing 98 members of the lower house of parliament. Mr Nazarbayev, who has ruled Kazakhstan since Soviet times, told a rally of about 3,000 supporters on Saturday night that the country had embarked on "a new political system".
Once the country has a new parliament, the new constitution will be enforced and Mr Nazarbayev will have the right to run for office as many times as he likes. class="" href="/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/6949973.stm">Low-key personality cult
"I am sure that Kazakhs have chosen the way of peace, consensus, prosperity and the improvement of the lives of all Kazakhs," he said.
Two-thirds of Kazakh voters turned out for the election in the country of 15m, according to the election commission.
The country occupies a unique position among the ex-Soviet Central Asian states for having a large ethnic Russian minority.