owned electricity company, said wages were low and there was too much unemployment but she voted for Otan because she believed life was getting better. "The oil money is not for us mere mortals," she said. About one in 10 polling stations had electronic technology bought from Belarus, which the opposition says could intimidate voters. The machines read a bar code, such as those used by supermarkets, stuck to an elector's identity card. Although officials said the vote would remain secret, there have been reports of students, teachers and state employees being told their superiors will know if they fail to vote Otan. Under Nazarbayev's 15-year rule, Kazakhstan has modernised its economy and started to tap enormous mineral wealth, but corruption is rampant and political power concentrated in the hands of the president and his immediate advisers. "The president is surrounded by various economic groups ... that are sucking Kazakhstan dry," said Information Minister Altynbek Sarsenbaiuly of Ak Zhol, the only opposition member in the government put together by Nazarbayev. Kazakhstan's potential as a major oil producer -- it should be in the world top 10 by 2015 -- keeps foreigners interested. "For us, and for the nation, the key question is whether the development of a free, democratic, transparent Kazakhstan is important to the West," said Sarsenbaiuly. "Or do they just need our oil?"
