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Observers see irregularities in Kazakh election

Posted March 21, 2016 7:00 am

The Associated Press

MOSCOW (AP) - An international election observation group says there were irregularities in Kazakhstan's parliamentary elections, which affirmed the ruling party's grip on power.

According to a Central Elections Commission statement Monday, preliminary results show President Nursultan Nazarbayev's Nur Otan party winning 82 percent of the vote.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's special coordinator for election observation in Kazakhstan, Geir Joergen Bekkevold, told reporters on Monday that international observers, who were allowed unfettered access, observed ballot-box stuffing and other irregularities.

The vote comes amid a collapse in Kazakhstan's economic fortunes caused by the falling price for oil, its main export commodity. Inflation is around 15 percent and the currency has lost 30 percent of its value.

Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev speaks after casting his ballot in Astana, Kazakhstan, Sunday, March 20, 2016. Voting has begun, Sunday, in the parliamentary election in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan where the governing party is expecting an easy win. The Nur Otan party of President Nursultan Nazarbayev, the only leader post-Soviet Kazakhstan has had, is expected to cruise to an easy victory and retain its control of the lower house of parliament. (Kazakhstan's President Official Site Photo via AP) The Associated Press

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