The ruling Nur Otan party of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev maintained its majority in parliament after winning 80.7 percent in elections on January 16 . . . the Communist People's Party and pro-business Ak Zhol parties will also attain seats in parliament after both narrowly cleared a 7 percent threshold for representation . . . Nur Otan had controlled all 107 seats in the lower house of parliament after winning 88 percent in the election of 2007 . . . the election had 75 percent voter turnout . . . however, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) criticized the election for failing to meet basic democratic standards . . . Kazakhstan has the world’s 15^th largest reserves of natural gas and is thought to have crude oil reserves of 39.8 billion barrels, or three percent of the global supply . . . Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell Plc, ConocoPhillips, Total SA, Eni SpA and BG Group Plc. are the primary oil companies in Kazakhstan . . . the victory of Nur Otan comes as no surprise . . . the election could prompt a return to the protests and riots of laid-off government oil workers that shook Kazakhstan in December . . . if instability resumes it could hurt the government’s focus on modernization and oil production.