Kazakhstan chooses new president (BBC News)

[Up2Late]

(Probably the worst headline ever, the "new" president will, most likely, be the same guy as the "old" President.)

Sunday, 4 December 2005, 01:05 GMT

Kazakhstan chooses new president

The people of Kazakhstan have been voting in an election widely expected to return President Nursultan Nazarbayev for another seven-year term.

Mr Nazarbayev has headed the Central Asian republic since independence. The other four contenders - all men - include the main opposition candidate, former governing party member Zharmakhan Tuyakbai.

International observers have criticised previous elections in Kazakhstan as neither free nor fair. Voting started at 0700 (0100 GMT) and ends at 2000 (1300 GMT), with early results expected on Monday morning.

A candidate must gain more than 50% of votes in the first round to avoid a run-off. A survey by the US-based Intermedia Survey Institute suggested Mr Nazarbayev enjoyed 71% support, with none of his challengers getting above 2%.

However, an opposition-ordered opinion poll claimed that Mr Nazarbayev was only narrowly ahead of Mr Tuyakbai - leading by 41.2% to 40.3%, the Associated Press news agency reported. The election is being seen as an important test of whether this vast oil-rich country is moving towards greater political openness, says the BBC's Ian MacWilliam in the capital, Astana.

<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4495944.stm>
(more at link above)

More info on Kazakhstan at this link:
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4379497.stm>