ASTANA, December 4 (RIA Novosti, Olga Kovalenko) - A total of 48.78% of electors cast their votes by 2:00 p.m. local time (08:00 a.m. GMT) in a presidential election in the Central Asian republic of Kazakhstan this Sunday, the Kazakh central election commission said.
Voting is more active in small cities and rural areas, the commission said. Turnout in the republic's large cities is much lower: 40.96% of residents voted in the republic's capital of Astana and 25.30% in Almaty.
As many as five candidates are running for president in Kazakhstan, including the incumbent leader Nursultan Nazarbayev, who has run the republic since 1989 and the opposition leader Zharmakhan Tyukbai.
The elections will be valid with any electoral turnout. The central election commission will draw up the first preliminary results of the elections in the first half of the day on December 5. A candidate must gain more than 50% of the votes to win the election.
Presidential elections are taking place in a calm atmosphere, the central election commission said.
