Kazakhstan presidential vote expected to extend incumbent's rule

(MENAFN- Saudi Press Agency) Kazakhs were voting Sunday in a presidential election that is widely expected to extend the more-than-25-year rule of Nursultan Nazarbayev, dpa reported.

Two candidates are challenging Nazarbayev, who has ruled the former
Soviet republic since 1991 and is all but sure to win.

'Today [the voters] have a choice about their future,' Nazarbayev was
quoted as saying by local media after he voted in the capital,
Astana.

Some 9.5 million people are eligible to vote in Central Asia's
largest country and its economic powerhouse. The election commission
said turnout was about 42 per cent by midday, the Astana Times
reported online.

The two other candidates are Turgun Syzdykov of the Communist
People's Party and Abelgazy Kussainov, a trade union chief.