Excerpts from report by Kazakh Khabar TV on 31st August

[Presenter] Nominations of candidates for the lower house of
the [Kazakh] parliament [Majlis] and the registration of the
contenders for the maslikhats [local authorities] ended today
[31st August]. According to the information at this time, 220
people on single-mandate constituencies are ready to enter the
election battle for the seats in the Majlis. A total of 17
people have started fighting on the party lists. All in all,
4,284 people will be fighting for the mandates for the
maslikhats. Our corresondent Gauhar Kerimova has the details
about life during the election campaign in Almaty.

[Kerimova] The first invalid has announced his claim to a
seat in the new parliament. This is a 38-year-old (Kayrat
Imanaliyev). [passage omitted; despite his poor condition he
received a brilliant education in Almaty and Moscow and was a
lecturer a the Kazakh State University] The Alash [nationalist
party, founded in 1990] Party announced its plans to enter the
election campaign in Almaty today. Its election list is topped
by Zhaksybay Bazilbayev. He believes that all the Muslims in
Kazakhstan should vote for Alash. Having stood for the post of
the country's president in October 1998, Bazilbayev is ready to
head the government and unite all the political forces in
Kazakhstan under the party banner. In his opinion, both the
opposition and the government are unable to function, and, at
the same time, as a candidate for a seat in the parliament, he
does not understand why his ideas cause an unhealthy reaction.

[Bazilbayev] Today, I received a certificate from a
pshychological clinic. Well, let us call a spade a spade.
Although I got one six months ago, I have had to get one again.

Source: Khabar TV, Almaty, in Russian 1430 gmt 31 Aug 99
BBC Mon CAU 010999/** GR/JF/VA/QU