ASTANA, Kazakhstan - the Kazakhstan election officials have said of long-standing service President Nursultan Nazarbayev overwhelming winner of a vote held this weekend.
The Central Election Commission released provisional figures incomplete Monday showing Nazarbayev 95.5% of the votes cast.
With participation reaching nearly 90% of the vote, this victory should lend Nazarbayev a new crushing and unassailable mandate of five years.
However, the result will be tainted by University students that claims have been forced to vote and the indications that the number of actual participation was artificially inflated.
Nazarbayev has led the Kazakhstan virtually unchallenged since the 1980s, when it was still part of the Soviet Union.
IT IS AN UPDATE OF BREAKING NEWS. Check back soon for more information. Previous AP story is below.
ASTANA, Kazakhstan (PA) - proven in record numbers for an election Sunday in the Kazakhstan is guaranteed to the vast majority of voters reaffirm the dominance of President Nursultan Nazarbayev of the oil-rich Asian nation.
90% Participation rate seems surprisingly given the discrete nature of the election campaign, and there were indications at the beginning that it had been artificially increased.
Preliminary results will be announced early Monday. Four polls run by government-friendly institutes end Sunday estimated tally Nazarbayev to an average 95 per cent of the votes.
Voters at the start, and 18-year-olds casting their ballots for the first time were rewarded with household items, such as mixers of food and kettles.
Nazarbayev, a pattern of the former old Communist Party in 70 years, ruled mainly Muslim Kazakhstan unchallenged since the 1980s, when it was still part of the Soviet Union.
Opposition politicians refused to take part in the election, called for a boycott and described the vote as a sham. But with 89.9% of the eligible voters 9 million cast their ballots, any concern that the authorities may have a low rate of participation have been cancelled.
Activists monitoring of local elections have reported numerous violations. The Organization for security and cooperation in monitoring arms of Europe election complained of a lack of transparency and competition in the vote.
Several reports have arisen of the University students being forced to vote by the threats of expulsion. Hundreds of students have been observed at dawn outside the polling stations at the National University of Al - Farabi Kazakh Almaty, that critics said shows that the pressure was applied.
"With this miserable weather and early on a Sunday morning when you you would expect students to lie... to see these crowds is just abnormal, said Vladimir Kozlov, head of the opposition party not registered of the alga.
Also, observers reported having given abnormal spikes in numbers of participation in the elections at various times of the day.
Nazarbayev term should have ended in 2012, but in January he called the election early after having considered a proposal to cancel the next two elections unconstitutional. Critics have speculated that he was trying to avoid any popular uprising like those sweeping the Middle East and the North Africa.
It is the third presidential election to be held since the Kazakhstan acquired its independence in 1991. Nazarbayev easily won the last two elections in 1999 and 2005, after its rule extend to four years in a 1995 referendum.
Income levels of propaganda and the increase of State tirelessly provided the Nazarbayev popularity over the years. Western nations have been balancing their apparent aversion to the slow pace of the country to democracy and their desire to benefit from its expansion of booming energy.
Videos anti-Election proliferate online, but this basic approach has proved little match for the campaign of get-the-vote-out "for the Kazakhstan" slick fronted by pop singers and TV personalities.
In the capital of freezing, windswept of Astana, choirs Nazarbayev voters echoed of the familiar mantras of stability.
"I did my civic duty, I voted for the Kazakhstan," said the 30-year Bolat Salykov security guard.
There was little electoral propaganda throughout the country, and Nazarbayev as usual dominated the headlines of daily television. The three rival candidates, who all openly expressed their support to Nazarbayev, made little impact.
A small protest outside the election commission building in Almaty, demonstrators put in place their own ballot box to vote "against all." Last option legally available in the presidential election of 1999.
Nazarbayev voted near the Presidential Palace in Astana, arriving with his wife and family, including the billionaire son-in-law Timur Kulibayev. The Nazarbayev family members have accumulated vast wealth during his stay in power, raising questions about the transparency of the country's lucrative oil sector.
"The task of modernization of the State and society are still enormous, and the vote today will be determine our unity and our desire to fulfil our plans", Nazarbayev said after the voting.
Prime Minister Karim Masimov said Associated Press that a term presidential fort would ensure the success of the reforms needed to increase and diversify oil-dependent economy.
Legislative elections are planned for 2012, but many believe that they can also be submitted to this year. A single party, Nur NATO Nazarbayev, is now represented in Parliament.
Janez Lenarcic, Director of the Office of the OSCE for Democratic Institutions and human rights, said that Kazakhstan will have to work before then to improve its electoral laws and strengthen media freedoms and the right to freedom of Assembly.
In a piece of the op - ed published last week in the Washington Post (WPO - news-people) - Nazarbayev argued that economic prosperity should come before democracy.
"Without such a force, as we have seen several times in the world, stability is put at risk and may, founder of democratic reform," he wrote.
Copyright 2011 the Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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