The overwhelming re-election victory of the Kazakh President, Nursultan Nazarbayev, was flawed, international monitors have said.
The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe said that authorities had intimidated opposition campaign staff and ballot boxes had been stuffed among other election violations.
In a strongly worded statement, the OSCE said its 460 monitors had noted some improvements but the flaws limited the possibility for a meaningful competition.
The opposition has also claimed there were multiple violations in the poll. Official returns showed Mr Nazarbayev won 91.01% of the votes cast.
His victory will mean another seven years in power for the man who has led the country since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
