Parliament election kicks off in Kazakhstan

Voters began to line up at polling stations across Kazakhstan on Sunday morning to cast ballots in parliamentary election.

A total of 234 candidates representing six political parties in Kazakhstan contest for 98 seats of Majilis, the lower house of parliament,in Sunday's election.

This is the sixth Majilis election since independence of Kazakhstan.

Over 9,840 polling stations are set up throughout Kazakhstan, the largest country in central Asia while more than 9 million Kazakh voters are expected to cast their ballots.

An additional 65 polling stations are set up in foreign countries like China and Russia for voters travelling in those countries.

The election is monitored by 964 international observers from 103 countries and eight international organizations.

In January, President Nursultan Nazarbayev decided to dissolve Majilis and hold early election after Majilis members made public calls for the president to do so.

The current fifth Majilis was elected in 2012 in which Nazarbayev's Nur Otan party won an overwhelming 80 percent of the votes, securing 83 out of the 98 electable seats. Endi