Kazakhstan's longtime leader Narsultan Nazarbayev is bidding for his third term in office when the country goes to the polls on Sunday.

Nazarbayev, 65, got the top party job in 1989 in what was the then Kazakh Socialist Republic of the Soviet Union. After the disintegration of the former Soviet Union in 1991, he was elected president of Kazakhstan by 98.7 percent of the vote for a five-year term.

In 1995 his term was extended through a referendum to 2000. In 1998, the Kazakh Constitution was revised and the presidential mandate was prolonged from five years to seven years. Nazarbayev won the following early presidential race in January 1999. Now, he is bidding for a third term amid a strong economy.

A country of comparative prosperity in the region, Kazakhstan has seen its economy surging over the past 10 years with per capita gross domestic product (GDP) growing from 700 US dollars to about 3,000 dollars in 2004.

The growth is largely due to high world demand for oil. The country's oil and fuel output has grown to 2.25 times more than that of 1985 and oil and fuel exports last year accounted for more than 60 percent of the country's exports, according to the World Bank.

Economists predict that Kazakhstan will rank among the world's top 10 oil producers by 2012 with a per capita GDP of 8000 dollars.

The growth is also explained by the country's opening-up economic policies. Its trade volume reached 3.3 billion dollars in 2004, more than double that of 1994. Its main trading partners are the European Union member states, Russia, Switzerland and China.

By the end of 2004, a total of 30 billion dollars in foreign capital had been injected into the Kazakh economy. Its foreign reserves now stand at 15 billion dollars.

The economic growth is mirrored in daily life. In comparison to 10 years ago, people in the country with a population of 15 million have witnessed their monthly salary increase five-fold, while their monthly pension has risen by 3.6 times and per capita saving is 36 times higher.

Under Nazarbayev, Kazakhstan adopted an active and balanced foreign policy to create a favorable environment for domestic development. It maintains peaceful relations with all nations while giving orientation priority to cooperation with Russia, China, the United States and the European Union.

The participation into several regional organizations, such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Eurasian Economic Community and the Central Asian Cooperation Organization, enables Kazakhstan to play an increasingly important role in regional and international affairs, said observers.

In the presidential race, Nazarbayev faces four rivals. Former prosecutor general and speaker of parliament, Zharmakhan Tuyakbai, 58, a onetime of Nazarbayev, is considered the main challenger. He runs on behalf of the "For a Fair Kazakhstan" opposition alliance.

Alikhan Baimenov, 46, runs on a platform of promoting democracy and fighting corruption under the slogan "change without shock". Mels Eleusizov, 55, is an environmental activist and Erasyl Abylkasymov, 57, favors a return to communist rule.

Source: Xinhua