In the presidential election held on 4 December 2005, Tuyakbay, with slightly more than 6%, came second after Nursultan Nazarbayev, who won more than 90% of the vote. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) concluded that the election did not meet international standards, despite some improvements in the administration of the election. Tuyakbay refused to concede his loss and called for the results to be annulled. He challenged the case to the Supreme Court of Kazakhstan which rejected his appeal on 23 December.