ASTANA, Kazakhstan (AP) — Election officials in Kazakhstan say three parties have won seats in the parliament, ending the total control once held by the president's party.
However, President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s Nur Otan party remains the overwhelming force in the legislature, winning more than 80 percent of the vote in Sunday’s election.
Nur Otan held all elected seats in the previous 107-member parliament. Nine deputies are nominated by a presidential advisory body.
According to results released Monday by the Central Elections Commission, two other parties got slightly more than 7 percent of the nationwide vote, clearing the threshold for gaining seats.
They are the business-oriented Ak Zhol, which avoids confrontation with the government, and the People’s Communist Party.
There was no immediate breakdown on the number of seats for each party.
