KAZAKHSTAN-VOTE

People vote at home during parliamentary elections in the village of Karasu, some 240 km from Almaty on January 15, 2012. A shaken Kazakhstan elects a new parliament just a month after deadly riots challenged the resource-rich but authoritarian nation’s status as the beacon of Central Asian growth. The vote is designed to breathe new life into a system under which veteran — the 71-year-old president — in power since 1989 and still with no clear successor in sight — said that the vote represented „a big test”. AFP PHOTO/ VYACHESLAV OSELEDKO