KAZAKH PRESIDENT WINS ALL SEATS IN NEW PARLIAMENT, ELECTIONS CRITICIZED BY OBSERVERS
23 August 2007

Kazakhstan has never held an election that was considered free and fair by independent observers, but the latest installment of the country's strained effort to grow into a post-Soviet democracy has taken rigged elections to an extreme. No opposition parties reached the threshold of voter support needed to gain even one representative seat, leaving the president with absolute control over the parliament, and essentially totalitarian power.

The election result has been heavily criticized by independent observers, and appears to be a major setback for the hope of Kazakh society evolving into a functioning democracy, after thousands of years of tribal conflict, absolutism and subjugation to outside powers. But Pres. Nursultan Nazarbayev, who has at times ruled the former Soviet republic as if by divine fiat, now appears likely to be the most significant obstacle to its achieving anything closely resembling representative democracy.

There had been hopes that the election would be conducted in a way which would allow for opposition parties to increase their representation and begin to push Kazakh government toward a more open, varied system where adversarial debate would be both possible and productive. The wiping out of the only representation of any other party in the lower house of Parliament essentially means that dream is put off for another time.

As western nations try to court Kazakhstan's favor, in hopes of having primary access to its oil-rich territory, in place of Russia, which formerly controlled Caspian Sea oil through the imperial power of the the Soviet Union. But it looks like western governments and businesses now face the critical problem of having to deal with an absolutist ruler, whose system is closed and unfavorable to foreign investment, and brutally authoritarian. [s]

• Yahoo! News: "President celebrates as Kazakhs count their votes"
• Breitbart: "Kazakhstan vote to test reforms"