Elections to local maslikhats (councils) were held throughout Kazakhstan on 20 September, with only 56.4 percent of the eligible electorate having voted by poll-closing time, the Central Election Commission reported. Council members were elected in 2,062 electoral districts; a second round will be held in 433 districts and 59 will have to hold new elections. It was reported that there were more than 400 election observers from political parties and NGOs active in Astana alone, in addition to international observers. No major violations of election law were reported in the capital, but there were numerous cases of attempted \"family\" voting -- where one person presents the documents of an entire family in order to vote for all family members. According to reports, older voters were the most likely to come to the polls. (khabar.kz)