According to exit poll, Kazakh incumbent President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev was headed for a landslide victory in a snap election on November 20.
Media reports say the poll by the Open Society Institute showed that Tokayev won 82.45 percent of the vote.
His five fellow candidates — which include two women — were little-known figures who are not seen as real competitors.
Voting in Sunday’s snap presidential elections in Kazakhstan reportedly ended at 10 p.m. Astana time (1600GMT). Voting procedures in all 17 administrative regions of the country began at 7 a.m. Astana time (0100GMT).
According to the Kazakh Central Election Committee, as of 10 p.m., turnout was over 69%, with nearly 8.3 million of almost 12 million eligible voters casting ballots.
The state-run news agency Kazinform reported that while domestic voting concluded, 57 polling stations abroad continued their work.
The elections put incumbent President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev against five other presidential candidates in the country’s seventh presidential race.
According to Kazakhstan’s Foreign Ministry statement, preliminary election results are expected to be announced today or tomorrow.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which sent a monitoring team to observe the vote, is due to give its assessment today.
Ahead of the vote, the OSCE had criticized Kazakhstan's failure to meet electoral recommendations, including "conditions of eligibility and registration of candidates."
Independent observers from Kazakh NGOs said in many cases they had faced restrictions in trying to monitor the vote.
The November 20 election came nearly three months after Kazakhstan replaced its system limiting presidents to two consecutive five-year terms with a single seven-year term. Another move was changing the capital’s name back to Astana, after it was changed from Astana to Nur-Sultan in 2019 in tribute to outgoing President Nursultan Nazarbayev. The constitutional changes were proposed by the incumbent president as part of his campaign to create what he calls "a new Kazakhstan."
The former diplomat, Tokayev took over as president in March 2019, succeeding Nazarbayev, who ruled Kazakhstan three decades.
