Kazakh leader re-elected

Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev won re-election by a landslide yesterday, but international observers branded the vote flawed, citing ballot box stuffing and the intimidation of opposition campaigners. In a strongly-worded statement, the...

Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev won re-election by a landslide yesterday, but international observers branded the vote flawed, citing ballot box stuffing and the intimidation of opposition campaigners.

In a strongly-worded statement, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said its 460 monitors had noted some improvements but the many flaws "limited the possibility for a meaningful competition".

"There was harassment, intimidation and detentions of campaign staff and supporters of opposition candidates, including cases of beatings of campaign staff," the OSCE said.

Nazarbayev, in power in the Central Asian state since 1989, looked set to shrug off the criticism. The opposition stopped short of calling for protests due to laws - criticised by the OSCE - banning them.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.