Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Kazakhstan

Presidential Campaigning Begins In Kazakhstan

Presidential candidate Zharmakhan Tuyakbai (file photo) (RFE/RL)

Astana, 26 October 2005 (RFE/RL) -- Kazakh presidential candidates today officially started their election campaigns.

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October 26, 2005

Five candidates are running in the race. The two main candidates are incumbent President Nursultan Nazarbaev and Zharmakhan Tuyakbai, head of the pro-democracy opposition For a Just Kazakhstan bloc.

Nazarbaev has been ruling this vast, sparsely populated and oil-rich country since Soviet times. He has been elected president twice and once extended his term through a referendum. All of those elections were criticized as undemocratic. One of the elections was unexpectedly held two years early.

Kazakhstan's presidential election is scheduled for 4 December. Election campaigning is expected to end a few days before voters go to the polls.

(RFE/RL Kazakh Service)

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