NUR-SULTAN, June 10 (Xinhua) -- Kazakhstan's incumbent President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has won Sunday's presidential election by gaining some 70 percent of the vote, according to exit poll results.
The exit poll by Kazakhstan's Public Opinion Research Institute showed that Tokayev took the lead in the race by garnering 70.13 percent of the ballots, followed by his opposition rival, Amirzhan Kosanov from the United National Patriotic Movement "Ult tagdyry" with 15.39 percent of the votes.
The voting kicked off at 07:00 a.m. local time (0100 GMT) and ended at 09:00 p.m. (1500 GMT) in the day.
In the Kazakhstan voting system, the candidate who receives more than 50 percent of the vote shall be considered elected.
On March 19, former President Nursultan Nazarbayev announced his decision to step down and name Toyakev interim leader. Nazarbayev had served as Kazakhstan's president for nearly three decades since its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
Tokayev, 66, a career politician and diplomat in Kazakhstan, took oath of office a day after the announcement.
