Kazakh opposition accuses president of vote-rigging

ALMATY, Aug 23 (Reuters) Kazakhstan's opposition accused President Nursultan Nazarbayev today of ordering massive electoral fraud during last week's parliamentary election in which the ruling party won all seats in the chamber.

Nazarbayev's Nur Otan party won 88 per cent of the ballot, or every seat in the lower house, in the August 18 vote which international election monitors said was flawed.

''It's obvious that without an order from the very top, from the country's leader, such massive electoral fraud would not have taken place,'' Oraz Zhandosov, co-head of the main opposition All-National Social Democratic Party (ANSDP), told reporters.

Like all other parties, the ANSDP failed to reach a 7 per cent hurdle required to enter parliament. It said its failure was directly linked to ballot manipulation.

Kazakh officials said the election gave all parties equal opportunity to compete. Nazarbayev, speaking earlier this week, said the vote was ''open, fair and just''.

The ANSDP listed a number of irregularities they said were recorded by their own monitors, including inflated turnout numbers, multiple voting at polling stations and election officials' refusal to publish detailed voting results.

''The election was rigged in the most outrageous way.

Absolutely,'' said Bolat Abilov, another ANSDP leader.

Election monitors from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said they recorded incidents of votes for other parties being counted for Nur Otan, a failure to let observers see ballot papers or move freely during the count.

The old parliament, elected in 2004, had just one moderate opposition member, but also included other parties and independents, now banned, who supported Nazarbayev.

Zholdasbek Nusenov, a senior ANDSP campaign official, said the party had filed about 200 lawsuits over various violations.

''That number will continue to rise,'' he said. ''We will continue to stand up for your rights and those of our voters.'' REUTERS AM VV1838