During parliamentary elections Sunday, the ruling pro-presidential Nur Otan party collected over 88% of votes. Snap elections to Majilis were called after parliamentarians resigned voluntarily in June to enact all the president-sponsored legislative amendments.
Before the elections, the country's democratic party Ak Zhol, which had failed to win the necessary number of votes, said it would contest the results and could even stage protests.
Election monitors from the Council of Independent States, a Russia-dominated alliance of former Soviet republics, declared the elections free and fair, while opposition parties called the results rigged. Observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said the results were flawed, but nevertheless called the elections a positive step toward developing democracy in the ex-Soviet state.
