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Kazakhstan’s incumbent president, widely expected to win a snap election after bloody riots rocked the country, moved to smother the influence of his authoritarian predecessor.
Five candidates voted against President Kassim-Jomart Tokayev. With a short campaign period starting in late October, they have little chance of mounting a major challenge.
Clearly confident of a strong lead, Tokayev did not take part in the nationally televised election debate.
Voter turnout averaged 69 percent in 10 of the country’s 15 regions by the time polls closed, the National Electoral Commission said.
The election for a seven-year term comes as Tokayev takes steps to distance Kazakhstan from longtime ally Russia.
He said bluntly that the country does not recognize the regions of Ukraine that Russia declared sovereign at the start of the conflict that began in February.
Kazakhstan has taken in hundreds of thousands of Russians who fled after President Vladimir Putin issued a conscription order in September.
When Tokayev became president in 2019 following the resignation of Nursultan Nazarbayev, he was widely expected to continue leading the resource-rich country along an authoritarian line since its independence from the Soviet Union .
Nazarbayev remains highly influential as head of the National Security Council, and the capital was renamed Nur-Sultan in his honor.
In January, provincial protests initially sparked by fuel price hikes swept through other cities, notably the commercial capital Almaty, and became overtly politicized as demonstrators chanted “Old man, get off!” See Nazarbayev.
More than 220 people, mostly protesters, were killed as police cracked down on the unrest.
Amid the violence, Tokayev removed Nazarbayev from his security committee post.
He restored the capital’s former name, Astana, and Kazakhstan’s parliament repealed a law that had granted Nazarbayev and his family immunity from prosecution.
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