Moscow ? Kazakhstan’s only post-Soviet leader, Nursultan Nazarbayev, appeared poised to handily win re-election Sunday, giving him another seven years at the helm of a regime that has nurtured Central Asia’s largest economy but failed to bring the oil-rich republic any closer to democracy.

Blessed with vast oil and gas reserves, Kazakhstan’s economy under Nazarbayev has grown by up to 10 percent in each of the last six years. The Central Asian state has a burgeoning middle class, a rarity in a region of rampant poverty.

However, like other apparatchiks who went on to lead their nations after the 1991 Soviet collapse, Nazarbayev has a track record of suppressing political opponents, controlling the media and manipulating elections to ensure he and his allies stay in power.

That pattern appeared to continue through the run-up to Sunday’s election. International observers say the campaign was marred by the government’s seizure of pro-opposition newspapers, a ban on any public discussion of oil-related corruption allegations involving Nazarbayev, and charges that opposition activists were arrested and beaten.

The campaign also was clouded by the murder of Zamanbek Nurkadilov, a prominent opposition activist found shot to death at his home Nov. 13. Though he had two bullet wounds to his chest and one to his head, Kazakh authorities suggested he committed suicide. Nurkadilov once worked in Nazarbayev’s government, but left last year after accusing the Kazakh leader of corruption.

“When it comes to the development of democracy, we haven’t seen any real steps in this direction,” said Erkin Tukumov, head of the Central Asian Foundation for Democracy Development. “In Kazakhstan, we can only talk about cosmetic changes.”

Like last month’s tainted parliament elections in Azerbaijan, the Kazakh presidential election puts Washington in the uncomfortable position of balancing its energy interests in the region with President Bush’s push for democracy development throughout the world.

Western oil companies have invested heavily in Kazakhstan, expected to become one of the world’s leading oil exporters in 10 years. In years past, Washington muted its criticism of Nazarbayev. However, in October, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice included Kazakhstan on her swing through Central Asia and reminded the regime that democratic advances had to accompany economic reform.