article: The leader of Kazakhstan has apologised after winning the presidential election with 97 per cent of the vote saying it would have been 'undemocratic' for him to make his victory more modest. Nursultan Nazarbayev, a 74-year-old former steel worker who has ruled the oil-producing nation since 1989, has won another five year term. Kazakh television showed a triumphant Nazarbayev walking on a red carpet, smiling and shaking hands and greeting thousands of jubilant supporters at a forum in the capital Astana. Nursultan Nazarbayev, who has been re-elected as president of Kazakhstan after winning 97 per cent of the vote . But international monitors have voiced their concern about the poll saying there was not a genuine choice of other candidates with most of his vocal opponents either being jailed or fled abroad. However, at a news conference, Nazarbayev said: 'I apologise that for super-democratic states such figures are unacceptable. But I could do nothing. 'If I had interfered, I would have looked undemocratic, right?' The election was called more than a year before Nazarbayev's term was due to end, averting the risk that another year of economic pain could develop into a more serious challenge to his leadership. It also puts the question of a possible successor, an important issue for investors, off the table for now. Kazakhstan has been criticised by the West and human rights bodies for crackdowns on dissent. No election held there has yet been given a clean bill of health by monitors. However, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping promptly congratulated Nazarbayev on his re-election. Nazarbayev told a news conference after his victory that if he had interfered in the vote, it would have been undemocratic . Meanwhile Nazarbayev has promoted market reforms in the country and attracted $200 billion in foreign direct investment, turning his nation of 17 million into the second-largest economy in the former Soviet Union and number two post-Soviet oil producer after Russia. The multi-ethnic, mainly Muslim country is stable in a region troubled by ethnic violence from Kyrgyzstan to Afghanistan. Nazarbayev has promoted 'a multi-vector policy', building good ties with neighbouring Russia and China as well as the United States and the European Union. But the economy has been hurt in the past year by the decline in global energy prices and by economic difficulty in neighbouring Russia, hit by Western sanctions over Ukraine. Kazakh economic growth is forecast to slow to 1.5 percent this year from a 4.3 percent rise in 2014. Gross domestic product may actually shrink if oil prices drop to below $50 per barrel, Kazakh officials have said.
highlights: Nursultan Nazarbayev has been re-elected as the president of Kazakhstan .
  74-year-old was elected with 97% of the vote, winning a five-year term .
  International monitors have voiced their concern about the result .
  But Nazarbayev says it would have been 'undemocratic' to intervene to make his victory smaller .
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