Iran Press/Asia News: Giving preliminary results, Kazakhstan’s Central Election Commission said Kassym Jomart-Tokayev, the handpicked successor of Nursultan Nazarbayev, officially took 70.76% of the vote, while his nearest challenger, opposition candidate Amirzhan Kosanov, won 16.2%. Turnout was put at 77.4%.
Nazarbayev, who ruled for three decades after Kazakhstan won independence from the Soviet Union, was used to winning presidential elections with more than 90% of the vote and analysts will now ask whether officials are giving an inch in the face of mounting pressure from the many Kazakhs who feel their country does not offer a true democracy and that the oil-rich state does not fairly share out the spoils, Bne IntelliNews reported.
What observers saw as the stage-managed election of Tokayev, 66—Nazarbayev, 78, is widely seen as still ruling from behind the scenes—produced the largest protests the country has seen in years in the capital, Nur-Sultan, and largest city Almaty.
Rainy weather may have been a factor in there being a lack of follow-up night-time protests, and demonstrators also have no high-profile leader or organization to cohere around, but by lunchtime, on June 10 there were social media reports of some protests in Almaty, with Radio Azzatyk saying 20 had been detained.
There were also reports of mobile internet coverage being down, with the finger being pointed at the authorities.
Human Rights Watch has said the idea of there being a democratic handover of power in Kazakhstan is "an illusion", but Tokayev insisted the vote was democratic and open.
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