Kazakhstan: Outgoing President Kassym-Jomart Tokaev largely re-elected

River score According to three exit polls, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev won between 82.2% and 85.52% of the vote

The President of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, casting his vote in Astana on November 20, 2022. — /AP/SIPA

Kassym-Jomart Tokaïev unsurprisingly keeps his chair. The outgoing president of Kazakhstan was widely re-elected on Sunday, according to polls, the head of the largest country in Central Asia, which lived through a dark year of bloody riots and ruthless clan struggle.

According to three polls conducted in At the exit of the polls, Kassym-Jomart Tokaïev obtained between 82.2% and 85.52 % of the votes in this former Soviet republic where 69.43% of the 12 million voters voted, according to the first estimates of the Electoral Commission.

Riots brutally suppressed ;es in January

Rich in natural resources and located at the crossroads of important trade routes, Kazakhstan plunged into chaos in January when high cost protests escalated; into riots, before being brutally repressed. Death toll: 238 dead. The country remains traumatized. by this crisis and, a sign that tensions persist, the authorities have announced Thursday to have stopped seven supporters of an exiled opponent accused of fomenting a “coup d”etat”.

This early election was a way for the 69-year-old president to consolidate his power. This diplomat by training has moved this year by leading relentlessly, firing on rioters in January, arresting relatives of his predecessor and mentor Nursultan Nazarbayev, and then standing up to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

President calls campaign “fair and open”

This election is part of the long tradition of ballots decided in advance in Kazakhstan, in the image of previous presidential elections: 71 % of the vote for Kassym-Jomart Tokaïev in 2019 and 98 % in 2015 for Nursoultan Nazarbaïev. Despite this crushing score and the absence of competition, the president estimated that this campaign had been “Fair and open.”.

In Astana and Almaty, the country’s two largest cities, AFP saw several voters take pictures of themselves outside polling stations, number of voters invoking the “obligation” to show this Monday the photo to their employer. About fifteen people also demonstrated. to Almaty to demand free elections and have all been arrested by the police.