Astana : Projected results showed energy-rich Kazakhstan's ruling party claiming a comfortable win in early parliamentary polls on Sunday that never threatened to trouble autocrat President Nursultan Nazarbayev's long reign.
An exit poll conducted by the local Institute of Democracy research group put Nazarbayev's ruling Nur Otan on 82 percent, meaning it will dominate a parliament likely to contain two other parties.
The vote came as the ex-Soviet country sees its once-booming economy slump on the back of falling oil prices and an economic crisis in northern neighbour Russia, but Nazarbayev's grip on power appears as firm as ever.
The 75-year-old strongman who has ruled Kazakhstan virtually unopposed since before its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 was elected to a new five-year term last year with 98 percent of the vote.
After casting his vote in the capital Astana on Sunday morning, Nazarbayev who has maintained close ties with ex-Soviet master Russia called on other countries "not to rush" Kazakhstan on its journey toward democracy.
"This is Asia," he said. "We have different relationships family relationships, a different religion and different opportunities between people."
Polling stations closed across the vast country at 1500 GMT in a ballot featuring six parties mostly supportive of Nazarbayev.
The Central Election Commission (CEC) claimed a 77.1 percent turnout Sunday, which Commission chair Kuandyk Turgankulov declared a record for parliamentary votes in the country.
