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Astana: Kasim Jomart Tokayev won 81.3 percent of the vote and was re-elected as the President of Kazakhstan. He was predicted to win easily as all five opponents were unpopular.
Not even one of them could reach double digit vote percentage. Kasim Tokayev will become Kazakh president in 2019 with the support of his predecessor, Nur Sultan Nazarbayev. Within a year, he cracked down on anti-government protesters. He amended the constitution to centralize power in Nazarbayev. The name of the national capital was changed to Nur Sultan and the old name ‘Astana’ was brought back. After independence in 1991, Noor Sultan was the president for almost three decades.