By empty (8/17/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Around 150 British troops arrived in Kazakhstan on Tuesday for a 10-day training exercise aimed at strengthening the oil-rich republic\'s defences, a British official in the former Soviet republic said. The soldiers of the third battalion of the Princess of Wales\' royal regiment will train with a unit of Kazakh air-mobile infantry to meet several hypothetical threats including military invasion and a raid on oil installations, the British embassy official said. \"It\'s designed to protect the territorial integrity of Kazakhstan against any group,\" the official told AFP.

By empty (8/17/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DVK) leader Asylbek Kozhakhmetov announced on 17 August in Almaty that the opposition bloc of DVK and the Communist Party has filed a lawsuit with the Supreme Court against the Central Election Commission. The suit seeks to reverse the commission\'s decision to prevent the bloc from using the official title \"The opposition bloc of Abdildin and Zhaqiyanov (union of communists and DVK).\" Kozhakhmetov said that a separate suit filed with the Supreme Court aims to recover dividends for 361,092 investors in investment privatization funds.

By empty (8/17/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)

The Central Electoral Commission tested its Saylau electronic-voting system in Astana on 16 August before an audience of political-party representatives, journalists, and international observers, Khabar TV reported. In the mock election, 45 voters voted for a variety of candidates. Commission head Zagipa Balieva pronounced herself satisfied with the exercise.