ALMATY, Aug 23 (Reuters) – Kazakhs began voting on Sunday, in a snap parliamentary election that looked set to strengthen President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s power over the Central Asian country, a major energy and minerals exporter.
The election was triggered by the adoption of a new constitution earlier this year, which streamlines parliament from two chambers into one. Kazakhstan’s supreme court said last month that the new constitution allowed Tokayev, who took office in 2019, to run for a fresh seven-year term.
Opinion polls show a large majority for Adilet, a pro-Tokayev party founded only months ago, and into which the previous ruling party Amanat, which had dominated Kazakh politics since the 1990s, has dissolved itself.
Several opposition parties, all of which are seen as broadly loyal to Tokayev, are also contesting the election.
Voting in the capital, Astana, Tokayev told journalists it was too early to say whether he would seek another term of office.
Tokayev was the chosen successor of Kazakhstan’s first president, Nursultan Nazarbayev. He broke with his predecessor after a 2022 bout of unrest that he has cast as a coup attempt by Nazarbayev allies.
(Reporting by Felix Light and Mariya Gordeyeva;Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)
