Kazakhs to vote in newly energized parliament elections

By JIM HEINTZ
Associated Press

MOSCOW (AP) — Voters in Kazakhstan will cast ballots Sunday after a short but active campaign for seats in the lower house of parliament that is being reconfigured in the wake of deadly unrest that gripped the resource-rich Central Asian nation a year ago. The snap election comes on the third anniversary of the resignation as president of Nursultan Nazarbayev, who had led Kazakhstan since independence following the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991 and had established immense influence. His successor Kassym-Jomart Tokayev was widely expected to continue Nazarbayev’s authoritarian course, But after more than 200 people died in protests last year, Tokayev has initiated reforms including allowing individuals to run for a third of the parliament’s seats.