Foes call Kazakh poll invalid

ASTANA, Kazakhstan -- Opposition leaders yesterday called for President Nursultan Nazarbayev's election victory to be declared invalid, while Western-led observers said the vote that gave him 91 percent support was flawed.

Similar criticisms by international observer missions were key in establishing an air of legitimacy for mass protests that helped bring opposition leaders to power in the other former Soviet states of Georgia, Ukraine, and Kyrgyzstan over the past two years.

But in oil-rich Kazakhstan, as in Azerbaijan's contested parliamentary elections last month, the opposition's options appeared to be limited by the comparatively authoritarian regimes they live under.

''We reserve the right to stage public protests, but we take into consideration the possible response from the authorities and we don't want innocent blood being spilled," said Nazarbayev's main challenger, Zamarkhan Tuyakbai.

''We will take all necessary measures to appeal the results released by the Central Election Commission and declare the vote illegitimate," Tuyakbai said.

The Central Elections Commission said Nazarbayev won 91 percent of the votes in Sunday's elections, while Tuyakbai, his closest challenger, won 6.6 percent. Seventy-seven percent of registered voters cast ballots, the commission said.

An array of exit polls had indicated Nazarbayev would win with 70 to 80 percent of the vote.

Kazakhstan, which is four times the size of Texas and borders both Russia and China, has vast oil and gas reserves that are a potential alternative to Middle East petroleum, and its stability matters greatly to the United States and Western Europe.

Under Nazarbayev, Kazakhstan has maneuvered between Washington, Moscow and Beijing. With Russia and China, it is a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization that has called for US bases in the region to be closed. At the same time, a small Kazakh contingent is part of the US-led coalition in Iraq.

At a news conference shortly after the results were announced, Nazarbayev said ''political reforms will be a priority" in his new seven-year term. He also suggested he would continue to seek partnership with many countries.

''Kazakhstan will have a multipolar policy," he said yesterday. ''Kazakhstan's pipelines are an indication of that."

Nazarbayev, who has led the nation of 15 million since 1989 when it was still a Soviet republic, allowed some political reforms in the early 1990s. But analysts say he later backed away from that path. Audrey Glover, head of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's long-term observer mission, rebuked him.

''I much regret that the Kazakhstan authorities did not provide a level playing field for democratic elections," she said.