Trend European Desk Head Aynur Gasimova
Kazakhstan held snap presidential elections on Sunday.
The Kazakh Central Election Commission summed up the final results of the snap presidential elections. Incumbent President Nursultan Nazarbayev received 95.55 percent of the votes, CEC head Kuandyk Turgankulov said at a CEC meeting.
The other three candidates finished as follows: Zhambyl Ahmatbekov - 1.4 percent of votes, Mels Eliusizov - 1.2 percent, and Gani Kasimov -1.9 percent.
International observers offered different estimates of the elections.
CIS observers recognized the elections as democratic. Their colleagues from the OSCE / ODIHR mission said the elections were not held at the proper level. PACE said the election results reflect the will of the people.
According to Kazakh law, the final results of the voting must be summarized no later than April 12.
However, one can say with certainty who won the elections. There is no doubt why.
The country has no real opposition that could oppose Nazarbayev.
Anyway, during the election campaign, no one from the opposition voiced concrete proposals to convince the people to vote for a new candidate.
The main opposition force - the Azat National Social Democratic Party - refused to participate in elections.
One could say the opposition simply had nothing to propose to the people.
It is not surprising that the leader who led the country to stability and prosperity won an overwhelming majority of votes.
The snap presidential elections were truly unprecedented given the record turnout, which amounted to almost 90 percent.
There was high political activity of youth at the present elections.
From the very beginning, it was clear for the experts and analysts that Nazarbayev will remain in power permanently.
The incumbent president has demonstrated the commitment to the democratic development of the country by rejecting from the referendum on extending the current term until 2020 and the willingness to go through the democratic process of elections.
The parliament adopted constitutional amendments involving a referendum on extending Nazarbayev's presidential term until 2020 without elections in January 2011. The president has not signed the law and sent it to the Constitutional Council. It found the law unconstitutional on Jan. 31. Afterwards, Nazarbayev has called the snap presidential elections.
The results of the elections can not be called questionable or unexpected. Nazarbayev, being in power for 20 years, has done a lot for his country. The economy of the country has been developing over the last few years. The volume of GDP per capita increased up to $ 9,000, i.e 12 times of $ 700 in 1996. The amount of pensions, wages increased by 6-7 times. The country has low unemployment. New jobs are created. The West China - Western Europe road, which has already provided thousands of people with jobs, has been built.
Kazakhstan has a strong place in the world political arena. For the first time Nazarbayev managed to gather the presidents and heads of the governments of all OSCE participating countries in 2010. Moreover, Kazakhstan was the first country heading this organization in the post-Soviet area. After the OSCE chairmanship in 2011, the country headed the Organization of Islamic Conference. It plans to hold a commemorative summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
There is no reason to think that Nazarbayev won unfairly.
It is obvious that today there is no other candidate for the president on the political scene who has the unconditional trust of people and the guarantor of stability for the country.
After the elections, the main challenge facing Kazakhstan's elite is to put forward new proposals and implement the plans that the president has outlined for the coming years.
Thus, the president said that he intends to propose all political parties within the formed democratic "Coalition 2020" to sit at the negotiating table and work together. The parliamentary elections must be held in the country in a year under strict international supervision to prevent abuse.
This situation gives grounds for hope that the country will implement all the new political initiatives of the incumbent president with success in the future and on the basis of democratic principles.