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Kazakhstan To Spend $32 Million On Presidential Election


A woman walks past an election poster of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev in Almaty on February 22.
A woman walks past an election poster of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev in Almaty on February 22.
ASTANA -- The Kazakh government has allocated 4.7 billion tenges ($32 million) to hold the early presidential election on April 3, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports.

Kazakh Central Election Commission (OSD) Chairman Quandyq Turghanqulov told journalists in Astana that the government has issued a special decree on the financial allocations for the election.

Turghanqulov said the sum allocated is $11.6 million higher than for the previous presidential election in 2005. He explained the difference by inflation and the need to increase the salaries of local election commission personnel in line with the 2009 amendments passed on the election law.

Turghanqulov added that the election campaign will officially start on March 3.

Of the 22 potential presidential candidates, the OSD has so far registered only one: incumbent President Nursultan Nazarbaev. Eight candidates have either withdrawn their applications or failed the mandatory Kazakh-language test.

Read more in Kazakh here. Read more in Russian here
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