UPDATE 2 - Kazakhstan’s Tokayev wins snap presidential election: Preliminary results

UPDATES WITH MORE CONGRATULARY MESSAGES, MINOR EDITS THROUGHOUT

By Handan Kazanci and Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) – Kazakhstan’s incumbent President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev won Sunday’s snap presidential election with over 81.3% of the votes, according to preliminary results on Monday.

Kazakh news agency Kazinform, citing the country’s Central Election Commission, said Tokayev won over 6.45 million votes, securing an easy victory against five little-known candidates. The second-most popular option picked by voters was “against everyone,” with 5.8% of ballots.

Voter turnout was 69.4% as nearly 8.3 million of around 12 million eligible voters cast ballots.

The call for early elections was made by Tokayev late September with a decree saying the polls would launch “an electoral cycle that will lead to a radical reset of the entire political system.”

The announcement came after Tokayev approved a constitutional amendment to increase the presidential term from five years to seven while barring future presidents from serving a second term.

Another move was changing the capital’s name back to Astana after it was changed to Nur-Sultan in 2019 in a tribute to outgoing President Nursultan Nazarbayev. Tokayev took over as president in March 2019, succeeding Nazarbayev, who ruled the oil-rich Central Asian nation for three decades.

- Congratulatory messages

Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Tokayev on winning a second term, opening up “new opportunities for the implementation of the course of state development.”

“The relations of strategic partnership and alliance between our countries, which are based on the good traditions of friendship, neighborliness and mutual respect, are developing very successfully. We will continue to work together to expand them further,” read a Kremlin statement.

Chinese Premier Xi Jinping also congratulated Tokayev. “Your election victory fully reflects the trust and support of the Kazakh people. I am convinced that under your excellent leadership, your country will achieve new successes in all undertakings of reform and move forward along the path of building a new Kazakhstan,” Xi said.

Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also expressed their good wishes for Tokayev.