Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev is holding a snap election  he is certain to win, solidifying his grip on power less than a year after he sidelined his long-ruling predecessor Nursultan Nazarbayev.

The former diplomat came to power in 2019 as Nazarbayev’s hand-picked successor when the country’s only ruler since the Soviet era stepped down.

However, he broke with his ex-patron after a January uprising Tokayev called a coup attempt.

A new election victory – a foregone conclusion against five little-known candidates – will give Tokayev, 69, the sort of overwhelming personal mandate Nazarbayev routinely secured as he built a personality cult during five successive terms.

Capital reverted back to former name

Nazarbayev, who had held on to important posts after stepping down, gave them up during the uprising in which 238 people died.

Tokayev has since forced Nazarbayev’s allies to relinquish other positions and changed the name of the capital – renamed Nur-Sultan in Nazarbayev’s honour – back to Astana.

Tokayev called in Russian help to put down the unrest but has since kept his distance from Moscow, avoiding giving public backing to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Russia is Kazakhstan’s biggest trading partner and its slide into recession has hurt Kazakh economic growth, while the strength of the rouble, boosted by capital controls, has helped push inflation in Kazakhstan to a 14-year high.

Promise to root out corruption

Tokayev, a former foreign minister and deputy secretary general of the United Nations, has overseen constitutional reforms which limit his own rule to two terms.

He has also promised to reduce income inequality by rooting out corruption and redistributing wealth more fairly.

He said on Sunday he would continue “resetting” the political system by calling an early parliamentary election next year.

Tokayev quit the ruling Amanat party this year and oversaw reforms making it easier to establish new political parties.

Opinion polls have predicted none of the five other candidates would score in the double digits.

Almost 39 per cent of voters had cast their ballots by midday Sunday.

Exit poll data will be published hours after polls close, with preliminary results expected on Monday.

-Reuters