ASTANA, Kazakhstan (AP) – Oil-rich Kazakhstan held parliamentary elections Saturday in an early vote widely considered an attempt by the president to improve the ex-Soviet republic’s democratic image while retaining his grip on power.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe has assessed previous elections in post-Soviet Kazakhstan as being less than free and fair. But President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who wants to see his country win the chairmanship of the OSCE in 2009, has pledged to “do everything to make the elections free and fair” this time.

The stability of Kazakhstan, the most prosperous nation in ex-Soviet Central Asia, is of particular importance to regional powers Russia and China because of its substantial oil and gas reserves. The United States has also sought greater access to Kazakh energy resources.

Voters were choosing members of the lower house of parliament in the early election, which was held after a series of constitutional changes. Nazarbayev’s Nur Otan party is expected to sweep most of the 98 seats up for vote. But the opposition, which holds only one seat in the outgoing parliament, also is likely to slightly improve its representation.

All the seats are to be chosen on a party-list basis, distributed proportionately to parties that get more than 7 percent of the vote. Previously, only 10 seats were chosen on a party basis.

The change was part of a number of constitutional amendments pushed through by Nazarbayev in May that also removed term limits for him and gave him the right to dissolve parliament virtually for any reason. Nazarbayev has led Kazakhstan for 18 years.

After voting Saturday in the capital, Astana, Nazarbayev said the amendments were aimed at uniting the nation and “for the first time, we raise the authority of political parties.”

However, choosing the seats entirely by party list leaves small opposition groupings and independents virtually no chance of gaining seats.

Voter turnout was just under 65 percent nationwide, the central elections commission said. The total turnout in the previous parliamentary election, in 2004, was 56.8 percent. It was not clear when results would be announced.

Seven parties were participating in the vote, but only Nur Otan and the main opposition National Social Democratic Party were expected to pass the 7 percent threshold.

Although this year’s campaign was dominated by Nur Otan, the opposition appeared to have better media access than past years. However, the NSDP complained that the country’s main television channel, which partially belongs to the state, refused to air some of its campaign advertisements.

The leader of the NDSP, Zharmahan Tyuakbai, said after voting that “we are still far from the ideal of fair elections, although counteractions from the authorities are less compared to the presidential election” in 2005.

The OSCE fielded more than 400 observers on Saturday, and is to announce its assessment of the vote on Sunday.

Also Saturday, Chinese leader Hu Jintao and Nazarbayev signed an agreement on building a pipeline that is to ship natural gas from Turkmenistan to China. The agreement followed a deal last month between China and Turkmenistan on a 30-year gas contract.

The agreement on the section of the pipeline crossing Kazakhstan further underlines that country’s strategic importance for energy-hungry China. A pipeline pumping Kazakh oil to China went into operation last year. Details of the gas pipeline agreement were not immediately available.

AP-ES-08-18-07 1426EDT