Tokayev wins Kazakhstan's presidential election

NUR-SULTAN, Kazakhstan

Interim leader Kassym-Jomart Tokayev won Kazakhstan’s presidential election, the country’s election commission announced Monday.

Tokayev received 70.96% of the votes in Sunday's election, according to the official results by Kazakhstan's Central Elections Commission.

Voter turnout was 77.4% of 12 million registered voters, it said.

Tokayev, 66, had taken the reins as acting president a day after the resignation of Nursultan Nazarbayev in March and announced the oil-rich Central Asian country would hold early election June 9.

*Writing by Faruk Zorlu and Sena Guler