Kazakhstan ? The party of President Nursultan Nazarbayev won all available seats in Kazakhstan’s new parliament, according to preliminary results announced Sunday. The tally was quickly condemned by the opposition.

An observer mission from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said Sunday that although a number of international standards were not met, the elections showed progress toward democracy.

Nazarbayev, who has ruled Kazakhstan since 1989 when it was still a Soviet republic, had pledged free and fair elections. He is pushing for Kazakhstan to become chairman in 2009 of the OSCE, which had delayed making a decision because of concerns about the country’s commitment to democracy.

None of the elections held by Kazakhstan since it became independent after the 1991 Soviet collapse had been assessed as free and fair by the OSCE.