Rigged election sparks protest in Kazakhstan

Kazakh opposition leaders set fire to copies of voting results yesterday in a public protest at a weekend election which tightened president Nursultan Nazarbayev’s grip on power.

Around 100 people protested in Almaty against the election, which was heraled by officials as a democratic first in the former Soviet republic.

Mr Nazarbayev, in power since the Soviet days, said the victory of his Nur Otan party was an endorsement of national unity, rocked recently by riots involving sacked oil workers in the western Mangistau region.

Two parties will join Nur Otan in parliament for the first time in 20 years of independence, a small concession in the face of growing frustration over unequal distribution of wealth.

The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s observer mission said real opposition parties had been barred and the media gagged.