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Leading party ahead of expected victory in Kazakhstan
The ruling party is expected to win by a large majority in today’s parliamentary elections in Kazakhstan. The only registered opposition alternative in the country boycotts the elections.
Nur Otan, the party of President Kasym-Zjomart Tokayev, is expected to take home victory in today’s parliamentary elections. Stock Photography.
The only party that sees itself as opposition, the National Social Democratic Party (ANSDP), is boycotting the elections in protest of an electoral system that the party considers rigged.
So far, no election in the country has been freely or fairly judged by election observers from the West.
Many residents of the capital Nur-Sultan tell AFP that they do not intend to vote, either because it is too cold outside or because there are no real alternatives to the party.
The current president, Kasym-Zhomart Tokayev, has promised to implement gradual political reforms before the elections.
The country’s former president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, ruled the country with an iron fist for 29 years and handed over office to Tokayev in 2019. However, Nazarbayev, now 80, remains chairman of the ruling Nur Otan party.
Many in the opposition believe that President Tokayev is in office as a front figure until Nursultan Nazarbayev’s eldest daughter, Dariga Nazarbayeva, can assume the presidency. In today’s parliamentary elections, she is one of the names on Nur Otan’s ballot, leading to speculation whether she plans to run for the presidency at a later stage.
