Shaken Kazakhstan votes after riots

A shaken Kazakhstan began electing a new parliament on Sunday just a month after deadly riots challenged the resource-rich but authoritarian nation's status as the beacon of Central Asian growth. The vote is designed to breathe new life into a system under which veteran leader Nursultan Nazarbayev sacrificed political freedoms in exchange for a record decade of micro-managed economic prosperity. The resulting social tensions exploded in December when 16 people were killed in clashes between striking oil workers and security forces in what became Kazakhstan's worst bloodshed since the Soviet Union's fall. The 71-year-old president -- in power since 1989 and still with no clear successor in sight -- said on the eve of the ballot that the new parliament's makeup should open a new era in the country's monochrome political life. "As a result of the election, parliament will be represented by at least two parties," Nazarbayev noted. "This is a new political phase of the country's development. We will work with all political parties in a constructive manner." Six parties will challenge Nazarbayev's Nur Otan (Light of the Fatherland) party under new rules in which the second-place finisher will collect seats even if it wins less than the seven-percent threshold. A study by the Institute for Social-Political Research said Nur Otan should win more than 80 percent of the vote -- only just off the 88 percent it garnered in the last parliamentary ballot in 2007. Its nearest challenger on around seven percent should be the Ak Zhol (Bright Path) party which garners its support mainly from businesspeople and the middle class but steers clear of outright criticism of Nazarbayev. The opposition All-National Social Democratic Party (OSDP) -- expected to come in third -- pledged to bring out people onto the streets if the authorities rigged the vote. "If we are cheated this time around, then there won't be any more elections in our country, we don't play these games," party chairman Zharmakhan Tuyakbai told his supporters at an election rally. "If they lie to us this time, steal people's votes, we'll take to the streets." The opposition and international observers condemned the conduct of the April 2011 presidential election which saw Nazarbayev win over 95 percent of the vote in a poll where even one of his rivals voted for the Kazakh strongman. But Nazarbayev appears to remain genuinely popular among Kazakhs who are taught to refer to their leader as "Papa" in school and a colourful array of prominent candidates heads his party's election list. They include the president's eldest daughter Dariga and the cyclist Alexander Vinokurov -- arguably the most famous sportsman in the country. All are designed to give a more humane face to Nazarbayev's strongman rule and regain people's trust in his vision of Kazakhstan's future. Nazarbayev has already responded to the December 16 unrest by sensationally sacking top energy executives as well as his own son-in-law and one time possible successor Timur Kulibayev as head of the mammoth state holding firm. A total of 9.2 million registered voters will choose 98 deputies in the 107-seat Mazhilis. The other nine lawmakers representing Kazakhstan's various ethnic groups will be chosen by its people's assembly on Monday. Polling stations will close in the west of the Central Asian nation at 1500 GMT while the first exit poll is due to be published at 1800 GMT.