ALMATY: The Kazakhstan opposition party Azat on Saturday picked its candidate for presidential polls to be held in April, which President Nursultan Nazarbayev is expected to win comfortably.
The Central Asian republic's Azat (Freedom) Social Democratic Party at a party congress unanimously voted for co-chairman Bulat Abilov, the independent Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency reported.
Nazarbyaev earlier issued a decree to conduct the April 3 polls after unexpectedly rejecting a plan to hold a referendum on whether he could serve as president until 2020 without elections.
The Kazakh opposition party last week called for the oil-rich country to hold its "first fair and transparent" elections and announced it would field a candidate.
The current parliament is made up entirely of Nazarbayev supporters and critics have complained that opposition activists are silenced by what is seen as an increasingly authoritarian regime.
A new five-year term at the helm of the Central Asian former Soviet republic would extend 70 year-old leader's rule to a third decade.
Along with Uzbek President Islam Karimov, who rose to power at the same time, Nazarbayev is the longest-serving leader in the former Soviet states.
Election campaigning is to start on March 3 and end on April
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