Zharmakhan Tuyakbai, the presidential candidate of the opposition bloc For a Just Kazakhstan, told AFP in a 1 December interview that a victory for incumbent President Nursultan Nazarbaev in the country\'s 4 December presidential election will push Kazakhstan toward dictatorship. Warning that \"the political authorities in our country are going more and more toward authoritarianism and dictatorship,\" Tuyakbai said that if Nazarbaev is not stopped on 4 December, \"In seven years\' time we will be one of the worst countries in the world, like North Korea or Turkmenistan.\" The opposition candidate said that he felt he could force a run-off with Nazarbaev in an honest election, but expressed scant faith that the ballot will be fair. Tuyakbai stressed that the opposition will \"use all constitutional means\" to protest in the event of disputed results. Finally, the opposition candidate expressed disappointment at the West\'s rapt attention to Kazakhstan\'s energy potential and its relative inattention to the need for democratic reforms. (AFP)