Kazakh President Urges Unity as Party Sweeps Parliament Vote
- Nazarbayev's Nur Otan party won 82 percent, election body says
- Voters lacked `genuine political choice,' observers say
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Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said parliamentary elections in which his ruling Nur Otan party retained its overwhelming majority showed his country is united in the face of economic difficulties. International observers said voters lacked real choice.
Nur Otan won 82 percent of the vote in Sunday’s early elections, the Kazakh Central Elections Commission said Monday, citing preliminary results. The Ak Zhol party and the Communist People’s Party both won just more than 7 percent of the votes to clear the hurdle for representation in parliament, while three other parties each received no more than 2 percent, it said. Voter turnout was 77.1 percent.