Published: Less than 10 min ago
Kazakhstan’s incumbent President Kasym-Zjomart Tokayev looks set to win by a wide margin in the ongoing presidential election, according to a polling station poll conducted by state media. In the survey, Tokaev gets 82.5 percent of the votes.
Before the election, observers predicted an easy victory for the incumbent president, as his five opponents were relatively unknown to voters and could not secure strong enough support during the short election campaign.
The election was announced last autumn after President Tokayev announced that a “radical” restoration of the country’s political system was needed. A referendum on the constitution was held this summer, where a series of reforms to the country’s power relations were given the green light.
Tokayev, the hand-picked successor to Nursultan Nazarbayev, who ruled Kazakhstan with an iron fist for almost 29 years, presents himself as a reformist leader capable of uniting the country and fighting corruption.