ASTANA: Kazakhstan voted Sunday in a mostly ceremonial election that is set to stretch President Nurusltan Nazarbayev's rule into a third decade amid Western worries about democracy in the resource-rich state.The vote comes against the backdrop of violent social revolutions sweeping veteran leaders from power and has already received criticism from Western observers about the ease of Nazarbayev's expected win.
But no such unrest seemed imminent in a Central Asian republic whose younger generation is taught to refer to Nazarbayev as "Papa" and which has spent the past decade registering the region's fastest economic growth.
Officials said this stability -- a mantra of the Nazarbayev regime since it rose to power during the Soviet era in 1989 -- will allow the president to open the system to other voices and make the republic a firmer ally of the West.
"President Nazarbayev has made a strong decision for himself and got the support of the population to move toward a Western-style democracy," Prime Minister Karim Massimov told in an interview.
"Checks and balances, this is a very important step. And for sustainable development in the future, checks and balances -- including of the political system -- are needed." But he added: "You can't do it right away. It takes time."
For now the 70-year-old former steelworker seemed headed for a whopping victory against three minor candidates who have all confirmed their private support for the president's rule.
A top aide to Nazarbayev has predicted an outcome improving on the 91.2 percent the president received in the last election in 2005 and observers have noted that all three opponents have vowed only to compete for second place