Kazakhstan’s choreographed election goes off-script

“HAPPY HOLIDAY!” cried a pie-seller in national dress as voters left a polling station in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s financial capital. A short stroll away in a leafy park, police were ruining the festive mood. Masked officers carried away prostrate protesters and hurled them into police vans. They were breaking up a peaceful demonstration by a few hundred dissenters who had gathered to demand change, even as the man on the verge of being elected president promised continuity.

With 71% of the vote, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev easily won the election, which was called after the resignation in March of Nursultan Nazarbayev, the autocrat who had ruled for three decades. Mr Tokayev’s closest rival, Amirzhan Kosanov, trailed far behind, on 16%. But monitors from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe said the poll showed “scant respect for democratic standards”.

Kazakhstan has never held an election deemed free and fair by credible observers. Mr Nazarbayev won the previous one with 98% of the vote. This week’s contest marked some superficial improvements. It was the first presidential election in 14 years to feature a challenger with a record of opposition. Mr Nazarbayev used to run against loyal supporters who took part simply to provide the illusion of competition. Democracy activists worry that Mr Kosanov, too,...

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