Kazakhstan ends Nomination of Candidates for Early Presidential Polls

    The nomination of candidates to run in the early presidential elections in Kazakhstan is over. Incumbent Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev set the elections on April 3. Some 22 presidential candidates were nominated by the evening on February 20, the Kazakh Central Election Commission reported.
    Three political parties nominated their candidates, namely Nur Otan – incumbent President Nursultan Nazarbayev, the Communist People’s Party of Kazakhstan – Zhambyl Akhmetbekov, the Kazakh Party of Patriots – Gani Kasymov and the republican people’s patriotic movement Zheltoksan (December) – Kurmangazy Rakhmetov. Other candidates are self-nominees.
    Five hopefuls did not pass the Kazakh language exam, the Kazakh CEC reported. Four of them were already denied registration. Another two self-nominees dropped from the presidential race.
    The only officially registered presidential candidate is incumbent Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev.
    The registration of presidential candidates continues and will end on March 2. Apart from passing the Kazakh language exam for official registration a presidential candidate is to deposit about 800,000 tenges (about 5,000 dollars) to the CEC account and to file an income and property declaration in the tax service. Under the resolution, which the CEC has earlier issued, at least 91,000 voters equally representing all 16 regions of the country are to sign up for a presidential candidate. The canvassing campaign will be launched on March 3 and will end on April 1 that is two days before the election day, Itar-Tass.