ASTANA, November 20. /TASS/. The overall voter turnout at Sunday’s early presidential elections in Kazakhstan reached 69.43% after all polling stations in the country closed at 22:00 local time (19:00 Moscow time), Konstantin Petrov, deputy chairman of the Central Election Commission (CEC) said.

"According to data from election commissions, ballot paper were handed out to 69.43% of eligible voters by 22:00," he said.

Voting was held from 07:00am to 08:pm local time. Poling stations in five regions located in another time zone closed at 21:00 Astana time (18:00 Moscow time).

The voter turnout at the previous presidential elections in 2019 was 77.4% by 22:00 local time.

Under Kazakhstan’s law, elections re recognized valid regardless of the voter turnout. A winning candidate is to score more than 50% of votes.

Preliminary voting results are expected to be announced on Monday.

Six candidates are vying for the presidential office, including incumbent President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.