The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe the OSCE has called for the postponement of the forthcoming Presidential election in Kazakhstanbecause of serious doubts about its fairness.

The OSCE says it's particularly concerned about the refusal to register two candidates for what it called minor administrative reasons.

It says this raises doubts over whether a fairly contested election is possible.

Last month the Kazakh President, Nursultan Nazarbayev, banned his former Prime Minister Akezhan Kazhegeldinfrom the January 10th contest.