In power since 1991, the 70-year-old leader called for the vote last week after deciding against holding a referendum on prolonging his rule until 2020."The country's leadership must turn this vote into the first honest, fair and transparent election in the history of independent Kazakhstan," the Azat party said in a statement.

The country's main opposition party announced last week that it would field a candidate in the election despite the overwhelming odds in Nazarbayev's favour.The resource-rich republic's parliament is composed entirely of members of the ruling party, with lawmakers changing the constitution in 2007 to allow him to seek re-election as many times as he chose.