Astana, Kazakhstan--Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev on Monday extended his grip on power in the oil-rich, ex-Soviet nation with 97.7 percent of ballots in an election slammed by Western observers as deeply flawed.
Nazarbayev, who has run the huge Central Asian country since before the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, improved his already eye-popping scores in previous elections to win a fifth term in power.
The Central Election Commission claimed a record turnout of 95.22 percent in Sunday's vote which was called a year ahead of schedule.
Western observers slammed the lack of choice in Kazakhstan's early presidential election in which the country's deeply marginalised opposition did not field a candidate.
The only two other contenders, figures widely seen as pro-government, scored less than three percent between them.
Reacting to Western criticism, the 74-year-old president issued a mock apology.
"I apologise that for super-democratic countries these figures are unacceptable," Nazarbayev, on course to reach three decades in power, told reporters.
"But I can't do anything about it. If I interfered, it would be undemocratic of me."
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) slammed "significant restrictions" on freedom of expression and media freedom.
"Voters were not offered a genuine choice between political alternatives," said Cornelia Jonker, head of the OSCE monitoring mission.
The European Union echoed its criticism, urging the Kazakh authorities to "address these shortcomings, as well as other restrictions and irregularities observed by the OSCE".
AFP
