Brussels, 05/04/2011 (Agence Europe) - Catherine Ashton has said she “congratulates(s) the people of Kazakhstan for exercising their democratic rights in presidential elections on April 3”, which unsurprisingly resulted in re-election of President Nursultan Nazarbayev, with 95.5% of the votes according to partial official results published on 4 April. Referring to the conclusions of the OSCE/ODIR International Election Observation Mission, which concluded that the ballot had been technically well administered, Ashton has called on the Kazakh authorities to carry out the reforms necessary for holding “genuine democratic elections”. These reforms must be adopted and implemented before the legislative elections in 2012, the high representative for foreign affairs underlines in a press release on 5 April. She also stresses the need to improve the human rights and fundamental freedoms situation in the country, saying: “Kazakhstan is a key partner for the EU, and we stand ready to continue our support to the implementation of further political reforms”. (H.B./transl.jl)