Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev won a landslide victory in Sunday's presidential election, with almost 85 percent of the vote, an exit poll showed.

The exit poll conducted by Eurasian rating agency in the Central Asian country gave Nazarbayev 84.55 percent of the vote, with only 9.58 percent voting for his closest rival, opposition leader Zharmakhan Tuyakbai.

Another challenger, former labor minister Alikhan Baimenov, came third with 3.46 percent of the vote. Baimenov was followed by communist candidate Yerasyl Abilkasymov with 1.43 percent and environmentalist Mels Yeleusizov with 0.98 percent.

The presidential poll closed at 14:00 GMT in the east, including the capital Astana and main city Almaty, and 15:00 GMT in the west, which includes the Caspian Sea oil hub of Atyrau.

About 300,000 voters were interviewed at 313 polling stations in major cities such as Astana, Almaty, the northeastern city of Semipalatinsk as well as in the countryside.

Under the Kazakh law, the presidential election is held every seven years.

Nazarbayev, 65, has been the country's president since 1991. The last Kazakh presidential election was held in January 1999.

(Xinhua News Agency December 5, 2005)