Kazakh president says no changes to domestic,foreign policies after landslide election victory

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said here Monday there will be no fundamental changes in Kazakhstan's domestic and foreign policies after he won a landslide victory in the presidential election.

"In my opinion, yesterday's election proved that people support the government's priorities in domestic and foreign policies. Therefore, we do not need to change them," he told a press conference after Sunday's victory.

Kazakhstan's Central Election Commission (CEC) announced the preliminary results of the presidential election earlier on Monday, in which Nazarbayev won more than 97.7 percent of the votes.

According to the CEC, Nazarbayev's opponents, the Communist People's Party candidate Turgun Syzdykov and self-nominated candidate Abelgazi Kusainov, won 1.6 percent and 0.7 percent of the votes respectively.

The commission said the turnout rate was 95.22 percent, which deputy chairman of the CEC Vladimir Foos called "unprecedented."

After the exit-poll results were announced on Sunday, Nazarbayev met with his supporters to celebrate.

"I am grateful to everyone, every family for having confidence in me," he said.

"The record-high turnout demonstrated the unity of the Kazakh people, their desire to live in a stable country and their support for programs put forward by me. It all gives more energy to work for the good of the country," the president said.

At a press conference on the election day, Nazarbayev promised to implement reforms in his next term. "If the people of Kazakhstan trust me again, my first step is to create a commission to implement all five institutional reforms that I announced," he said.

Nazarbayev said the commission will include various subcommittees to push forward complex reforms, adding that Kazakhstan has entered the second stage in the country's development where transparency and openness will be improved.

During his campaign, Nazarbayev put forward the idea of establishing a modern and highly efficient government, promoting the rule of law as well as boosting the economy through industrialization and diversification.

On Sunday, 9,741 polling stations opened nationwide to receive more than 9,510,000 voters across to elect their next president.

Most analysts had expected Nazarbayev to win with overwhelming support, as his rivals were no match for him in terms of political resources, experience and prestige.

Nazarbayev is the first and so far the only president of Kazakhstan since the country's independence in 1991. He has maintained a support rate of more than 90 percent in all previous elections.

The country's parliament approved an amendment in 2007, allowing Nazarbayev unlimited participation in future presidential elections. Endi