- ALMATY: TV personalities in Kazakhstan have launched a glitzy get-out-the-vote campaign as officials fear a low turnout in upcoming presidential elections will undermine the Central Asian nation's authoritarian ruler.
A group of popular singers kicked off their campaign Wednesday with the unveiling of a slick music video for a cheerful ditty called "Vote For Kazakhstan!" President Nursultan Nazarbayev is certain to win the April 3 vote and is unlikely to suffer a Middle Eastern-style uprising.
But online activists have begun a boycott campaign they hope could sabotage the campaign. They accuse the celebrities backing the vote of being pawns of the authorities. The 70-year-old Nazarbayev has ruled Kazakhstan since 1989.