Ally of Kazakhstan's longtime ex-leader wins presidency

Kazakh police detain demonstrators during an anti-government protest during the presidential elections in Almaty, Kazakhstan, Sunday, June 9, 2019. Voters in Kazakhstan are choosing a successor to the president who had led the Central Asian country since independence from the Soviet Union, with a longtime loyalist expected to win easily. (AP Photo)

Kazakhstan's acting President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev leaves a booth at a polling station during the presidential elections in Nur-Sultan, the capital city of Kazakhstan, Sunday, June 9, 2019. Voters in Kazakhstan are choosing a successor to the president who had led the Central Asian country since independence from the Soviet Union, with a longtime loyalist expected to win easily. Sunday's snap election was called after Nursultan Nazarbayev's unexpected resignation in March.(AP Photo/Alexei Filippov)

MOSCOW – Preliminary results show an ally of Kazakhstan's former president has won the presidential election.

The Central Election Commission in this Central Asian country said Monday that Kassym-Jomart Tokayev won nearly 71 percent of the vote with all the ballots counted.

Tokayev became acting president when Nursultan Nazarbayev, who had led the country since its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, abruptly stepped down. Shortly after Nazarbayev resigned, Kazakhstan's ruling party nominated Tokayev for presidency in what was largely seen as an orchestrated handover of power.

Sunday's vote was marred a police crackdown on protesters who took to the streets against what they see as a mockery of democracy. Some 500 people were taken into custody after police broke rallies in Kazakhstan's two largest cities.