Landslide re-election for Kazakh leader

He has held an iron grip on power in Kazakhstan for two decades. And, according to first official results, Nursultan Nazarbayev has won it’s latest presidential election with an overwhelming 95.5 per cent of the vote.

The oil-producing Central Asian state has never held an election judged free or fair by international monitors. Some 300 observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe will give their verdict on Sunday’s poll, later today.

Pre-election concerns about the transparency of the vote and media freedom have already been voiced.

The fragmented opposition called for a boycott and denounced the election as a farce.

Nazarbayev, 70, has said he will rule for as long as his health and his people will allow.

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