Azernews.Az

ANKARA – The mission of observers from the Turkic nations’ parliamentary assembly has recognized the presidential election held in Kazakhstan, saying it complied with international standards, its head, Azerbaijani lawmaker Aydin Mirzazada has said.

"Election day proceeded in a low-key atmosphere and the conduct of voting at all stages was deemed positive," Mirzazada told a news briefing on Monday.

Observers from the Turkic-speaking Countries Parliamentary Assembly (TurkPA) monitored the polling in six ballot stations. According to Mirzazada, the mission’s members enjoyed unfettered access to the polling stations.

Incumbent President Nursultan Nazarbayev swept Sunday’s elections, gaining 95.5 percent of votes, according to the electoral body’s preliminary tallies. The other three candidates won less than 2 percent each.

The TurkPA mission head said Kazakhstan’s central election commission and local electoral commissions "provided suitable conditions for all Kazakhs to express their will."

Mirzazada said there were some technical shortfalls during the polling, but those shortfalls "are characteristic of all present-day elections regardless of the country they are being held in."

"The TurkPA election observation mission notes that the mentioned drawbacks were not widespread and had no impact that could question the credibility of the election tallies," he said.

1,059 observers monitored the elections in the Central Asian state, including large delegations from CIS and OSCE/ODIHR, comprising 425 and 357 people respectively. Over 250 foreign journalists observed the polling as well.