Kazakhstan presidential election kicks off

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A woman casts her vote at a polling station in Almaty, Kazakhstan, April 3, 2011. Kazakhstan's presidential election began at 7 a.m. local time (0100 GMT) Sunday, with voters at 9,725 polling stations across the nation starting to cast their ballots in a solemn atmosphere. [Xinhua/Zhao Yu]

Kazakhstan's presidential election started on Sunday, with the incumbent President Nursultan Nazarbayev and three other candidates competing for the highest office in the largest Central Asian country.

"Our CEC (Central Election Commission) has registered 1,059 observers, (including) over 200 foreign journalists -- that is how openly and legitimately the honest election is being held in our country," Nazarbayev said after casting his vote.

Voters in 9,725 polling stations across the nation began to cast their ballots on 7:00 a.m. (0100 GMT), and the polls are due to close at 8:00 p.m. (1400 GMT). The first preliminary results are expected on Monday.

"By 10:00 a.m. (0400 GMT), 1,666,955 people have received their voting ballots, or 18.16 percent of all voters on the lists. As you can see, the turnout has been high since morning," CEC Deputy Chairman Vladimir Foos said.

Besides Nazarbayev, who is supported by the largest political party in Kazakhstan -- Nur Otan (Fatherland's Ray of Light), the other three candidates are Zhambyl Akhmetbekov of the Communist People's Party, Gani Kasymov of the Party of Patriots, and independent Mels Yeleusizov.

A total of 22 people applied for candidacy, but 18 of them were out of the race either because they had not passed the Kazakh language test or failed to collect enough supporter signatures.

Under the Kazakhstan election law, a presidential candidate should master the Kazakh language and collect at least 91,010 supporter signatures.

The registered electorate is around 9.1 million in a nation with a population of 16.4 million. The candidate who wins over 50 percent of the votes will become the new president.

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