Kazakhs vote in presidential poll

Voting in the capital has been brisk

The people of Kazakhstan have been voting in an election widely expected to return President Nursultan Nazarbayev for another seven-year term.

Mr Nazarbayev has headed the oil-rich Central Asian republic since 1989, two years before it became independent.

The main challenger among the other four candidates is former governing party member Zharmakhan Tuyakbai.

International observers have criticised previous elections in Kazakhstan as neither free nor fair.

Results are expected on Monday.

Of course I'll vote for the current president - the opposition does not inspire confidence Margarita Alexandrova Voter Voters in combative mood

Mr Nazarbayev said the elections were being held in "unprecedented democratic conditions".

Speaking after casting his vote in Almaty, he said all candidates had equal conditions and the same media access.

However analysts from the Assessment Risks Group NGO in Almaty say his rivals had very limited exposure during campaigning from a media which is largely under government control.

Opposition candidates have complained that they had no chance of putting across their message to voters.

The election is being seen as an important test of whether this vast country is moving towards greater political openness, says the BBC's Ian MacWilliam in the capital, Astana.

About 450 monitors from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and the European Parliament have been observing the poll and will hold a news conference about their findings on Monday.

Upbeat

A survey by the US-based Intermedia Survey Institute suggested Mr Nazarbayev enjoyed 71% support, with none of his challengers getting above 2%.

Voters in the Kazakh city of Almaty share their views In pictures

Parliamentary elections last year were widely seen as rigged.

Mr Tuyakbai, a former prosecutor general and parliamentary speaker, has said he expects the results of Sunday's election to be "fraudulent".

However, analysts say Mr Nazarbayev is genuinely popular among voters.

Voters are in a more upbeat mood than they have been in many years, our correspondent says, as after more than a decade of post-Soviet drabness and depression, Kazakhstan is suddenly on the edge of a relative boom.

"If you compare [Nazarbayev] with others, they have nothing outstanding to offer in the way of change," Bourzhan, 46, a researcher in Almaty told the BBC website.

"We should choose stability, and he's not the worst there is."

However, not everyone was backing the incumbent.

"There have to be changes, people shouldn't have to be afraid to say what they think," said Marat, 34, a security guard in Almaty.

Despite opposition warnings of street protests if the voting is unfair, such turmoil is unlikely in Kazakhstan, our correspondent says.

He says that economic reforms and foreign investment in the country's huge oil reserves have brought a new prosperity which was almost unthinkable a few years ago, and while corruption is widespread, life is definitely getting better for many people.