Global News

Police in Kazakhstan have arrested 200 more people, the interior ministry said on Tuesday, amid protests against what many see as a rigged presidential election. 

The 200 people arrested in the country’s biggest city, Almaty, on Monday were in addition to 500 others who were held a day earlier over protests against a snap vote that saw a landslide victory for Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the hand-picked successor of longtime leader Nursultan Nazarbayev.

Tokayev took nearly 71 percent of Sunday’s vote with all ballots counted, according to the election commission, while Amirzhan Kosanov, the 66-year-old career diplomat’s closest rival, took a mere 16.2 percent vote. 

Sunday’s vote prompted large protests in the capital, Nur-Sultan, and Almaty, with demonstrators calling for a boycott of the election. Such gatherings are rare in the tightly controlled, oil-rich country and illegal unless explicitly approved by the government. 

On Tuesday, a heavy police presence was visible on the streets of Almaty, with several National Guard personnel carrier trucks parked near the focal spot of the previous two days of rallies.

Authorities have blamed the protests on the banned Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DVK) party. 

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/06/hundreds-arrested-kazakhs-protest-rigged-vote-190611065702114.html