With a record turnout of voters (95.22 percent) on Saturday watched by media representatives as well as national and international observers from around the world, Kazakhstan’s founder President Nursultan Nazarbayev was making his bid for another five-year term during the country’s general elections.
According to the Kazakh Central Election Commission (CEC) head, Nazarbayev received the highest vote (97.71) and his opponents, Kusainov and Syzdykov had got only 0.7 percent and 1.6 percent respectively of the turnout at their polling booths. The final result will be declared by the CEC within two days, well ahead of the May 3 deadline.
Speaking at a press conference on Sunday, the CEC Secretary Bakhyt Meldeshev, said that for the first time ever, the voter turnout was the highest in Kazakhstan’s history. If, as expected, he succeeds in getting re-elected, he will score a hat-trick in retaining the vote of confidence in his policies and programs that have contributed to the growth and development of his country.
Various international media representatives from Europe, Middle East and Asia, were allowed to take photos of people from all walks of life waiting for their turn to cast their ballots for the three official candidates, including President Nazarbayev.
Lyazat Suilemen, member of the CEC, said that at 10 p.m. on Saturday 9.5 million out of 19.17 million eligible voters had already cast their votes. The voting process remained open until 8 a.m. (local time) here on Sunday.
Both international media men all over the world and Kazak nationals predicted that the people of Kazakhstan will re-elect the country’s founder President Nazarbyev (74) as he already established himself as state leader for economic growth, employment, health care and scholarship programs for students.
He leads a country trying to fuse its rich cultural heritage from central Asia with western modernity in order to harness its potential for becoming a new hub of economic growth, said a media international observer.
According to a local report, more than 1,1000 observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, as well as independent observers, were on hand to monitor the vote.
Casting his ballot today at the polling No. 81 in central Astana, Nazarbayev told reporters that his people will vote for stability of Kazakhstan.
“I am confident that people will vote for their future and the future of their children and for our flourishing Kazakhstan,” the president noted.
On security issues during the election, the Kazakh’s law-enforcement official told journalists that the election went smoothly without any violence while, security measures have been in place at all polling stations.
Police and security forces were also deployed in vital areas to manage and protect the voting process. “Today (Sunday) is a working day for all security agencies in Kazakhstan to ensure security and safety” said, Mazat Demeuv, deputy minister at Kazak Ministry of Interior.
The 9th largest country in the world with only 17 million population is rapidly growing with lots of opportunities to offer in terms of its oil wealth. Many Kazaks see their president as the man behind its landmark achievements within a short period of time.
Toleutaev Argyn, one of the voters, told Arab News after casting his vote that one of the major achievements of the president is the Bolashak program.
It is state scholarship for Kazakh students, especially the talented ones wishing to pursue higher education abroad at government expense. “When they return home, they immediately get employed by the government and have to put in at least three years’ service,” said Argyn.
He added: “Such a program has helped a large number of the population from all background, including poor students. It also encourages them to compete and win prestigious scholarship.”
A visiting professor Dr. Laszlo Maracz from the University of Amsterdam, who is also attending the event as a member of the international media monitoring team, told Arab News that, Kazakhstan is trying to combine its rich nomadic culture originating from central Asia with western modernity. “Actually they try to mix the two concepts using it as a tool to catch up with the modern world” he noted.
Speaking further, he said: “In a globalized world the academic system is becoming more homogenous. We are interested as Dutch university in seeing how curriculum is established here, how they are taught, how students are motivated. There are the center problems that modern universities are facing today. I think they are not different from Europe and Kazakhstan“
He pointed out that they have not come here to play the wise man. “We are here also to learn and see how they solve specific issues, including those concerning education. It is very central position, with Kazakhstan to the right of the map you see China, to the left Russia, the European Unions, the Cocoas countries it is very close to Afghanistan, India and the Middle East. Basically from this position you have a wide range of perspectives so that makes it in very interesting position. At the same time it is the 9th biggest country with a relatively small population living in it.”
According to him, the country serves as a kind of hub in the network of states and “that’s being promoted under the leadership of Nazarbayev. With his very modern concept he is trying to form a network in a globalized world connecting everyone.”
The professor said that the period during the 1990s was not very successful for Kazakhstan. The country was on the verge of financial collapse in the aftermath the break-up of the Soviet Union and it was President Nazarbayev and his team who managed to lift his citizens from a very difficult period.
“His prestige has been established in the nineties and what he came after was the possibility to liberate on his own plan to renew the country. But If the first obstacle would not have been taken, it could be probably even today very chaotic under, poor under develop county with a lot of complex” he said.
He referred to the acceleration of development and stability. ” The people don’t want to go back to the nineties, with financial problems, mafia and human trafficking and drug trafficking.”
He continued: ” His role behind the scheme of combining progress with stability is very important. What we need is stability, clear vision along with modernity and religious tolerance. That is respecting of course Islam but no extremist worries.”
Talking about his program, the Dutch professor said that in “Kazakhstan unemployment is under control. There are enough jobs especially in the cities. The situation here is better than some European countries.”
On democratic process in the country, Dr. Maracz said it will be mistake to judge Kazakhstan by Western standards, because it is a young developing country in central Asia. “So we must not be disappointed as some Westerners argue that when there are no 10 candidates it is not democratic. I don’t agree with that point of view. We should see it as a process, and the process is going on. In the parliament you have at the moment, three political parties, there were three candidates running that people can have alternative votes,” he added.