Registration of Kazakh presidential candidates to end Wed

ASTANA. March 2. KAZINFORM The registration of presidential candidates comes to a close in Kazakhstan on Wednesday. An early presidential election has been fixed for April 3; Kazinform refers to Itar-Tass.

According to legislation, in order to be included in ballot-papers contenders must pass an examination for a free command of the Kazakh language which is a state one, deposit about 800,000 tenge (about $5,000) to the account of the Central Electoral Commission (CEC), submit an income and property declaration to taxation agencies, and collect not less than 91,000 signatures in their support from people in all regions of the country.

In all, 22 applications were filed. However, only 11 people passed a linguistic test. According to data as of Tuesday, the CEC so far registered four candidates who collected the necessary number of signatures.

The present Head of State Nursultant Nazarbayev, nominated by the Nur Otan party, was the first to receive a candidate's certificate on Feb 18. On Feb 26, the CEC registered Zhambyl Akhmetbekov,Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist People's Party of Kazakhstan. On Feb 28 the CEC made a decision to register as presidential candiates senator Gani Kasymov, leader of te Patriots' Party of Kazakhstan, and a self-nominee, Mels Eleusizov who is heading the environmentalist union Tabigat (nature).

A canvassing campaign is due to begin in the republic on March 3 and end on Apr 1, two days prior to the presidential polls.

See www.itar-tass.com/eng