KZBlog

The preliminary results are in:
91% of voters voted for Nursaltan Nazarbayev.
6.6% voted for Tuyakbai (For a Fair Kazakhstan)
0.38% voted for Yerasyl Abylkasymov (Communist Party)
1.65% for candidate Alikhan Baimenov (Ak Zhol)
and 0.32% for Mels Yeleusizov

77% of voters turned out.

The surprises are the high turnout, especially among youth and of course the sizeable victory.
Onalsyn Zhumabekov, chairman of the Kazakh Central Election Commission (CEC) declared the polls valid even though the OSCE held a press conference today in Almaty announcing that the elections did not meet OSCE standards:

While candidate registration was mostly inclusive and gave voters a choice, undue restrictions on campaigning, harassment of campaign staff and persistent and numerous cases of intimidation by the authorities, limited the possibility for a meaningful competition….Unauthorised persons interfering in polling stations, cases of multiple voting, ballot box stuffing and pressure on students to vote were observed during voting and during the count, observers saw tampering with result protocols and a wide range of procedural violations.

On the media, the conclusion appears to be that the letter of the law was followed, but not the spirit:

State media largely met their legal obligations to provide free airtime to candidates but overall media bias in favour of the incumbent and legal restrictions on freedom of expression and dissemination of information diminished the possibility for electors to make a fully informed choice. Statements by the authorities alleging plans for violent actions by the opposition increased tension.

IMP, the state hired election observers, give some facts and preliminary observations. They break down the preliminary results by candidate and turnout by region, as well as by method of voting and the exit polls, which showed Tuyakbai doing much better. Neweurasia is giving other poll results.

The CEC report gives wrapups by the observers, though by nation instead of organization–odd, since observers were suppoed to be local or international, and also therefore exclusive of the OSCE. The Russian observers were apparently impressed:

According to Aleksey Malashenko, “everything was so well organized that searches of some irregularities and misunderstandings in fact haven’t achieved anything.” Russian observer Maxim Meyer noted that a conclusion could be drawn “people wanted to make a choice, people thought that their choice is important.

though most of the commentary is focused on the election law, not its performance.

A US Congressman is also quoted as saying:

Probably Western representatives could be jealous of a country where one third of population is really eager and comes to cast their votes at the elections”. At the same time he said even US electoral system having faced “such an exam, a test according to OSCE criteria” would fail to comply with such critical assessment. “For OSCE standards are simply nonrealistic,” noted Joseph Brodansky.

Kazinform is reporting on American observers’ press conference, including Congressman Charles Melanson. The overall message, as with most news sources, is that this election was better than the previous ones.

Kazinform also has quotes from Nazarbayev’s victory speech–I have never understood why the web news agencies do this, breaking up speeches into little bits, and never giving the full text. But there’s nothing particularly surprising: He’s happy, thanks the people, invites his opponents to help build the future, and so on. The President has also been quoted as saying that some replacements will probably be made in the high levels of government. This comes a surprise to absolutely no one.

The Economist (premimum content) headlines with: “Don’t wait up for the result” and goes on to summarize Nazarbayev’s image:

The image of Kazakhstan’s political leader standing shoulder to shoulder with the country’s business elite is powerful. It is supposed to convey the message that Kazakhstan is on the right track and needs continuity.

The article goes on to point out the poverty record of Kazakhstan and the potential for change, and the work that must be done, and finishes by saying:

The key election is not this one, but that of 2012, when Mr Nazarbaev will (probably) not be running. This time, second place is the one to watch.

From this resident’s point of view, the election was quiet. The buses were free that day, something that might have been advertised better since I stood for 6 stops with change in my hand like a dork. There were concerts and dancing in the polling stations. Things looked pretty calm from the polling station I infiltrated briefly. I think most people were scared of riots and they never materialized in Astana at any rate.