Exit polls indicate that more than 70 percent of Kazakh voters who participated in a constitutional referendum on June 5 favored the changes it proposed.
The Institute for Comprehensive Social Research said its poll indicated the amendments were approved by 76.7 percent of voters, while the research institute Kogamdyk piki said that according to its exit poll 74.8 percent were in favor.
The Eurasian Monitoring Center for Analytical Research reported that 76.7 percent voted in favor of the amendments.
Officials said after polls closed across the country that turnout was 68 percent. The figure does not take into account votes cast by Kazakhs abroad.
In order to be adopted, more than 50 percent of voters in at least 12 of the country's 17 regions must cast ballots in favor of the amendments.
President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev has said the referendum will shift the country from a "super-presidential form of government to a presidential republic with a strong parliament."
The referendum on some 56 proposed changes to the constitution came after the country was rocked by deadly unrest in January that ended the longtime grip on power of the Kazakhstan's first president, Nursultan Nazarbaev.
Nazarbaev handpicked Toqaev to be his successor after he resigned in 2019. The referendum was seen as an attempt by Toqaev, 69, to formalize Nazarbaev's "retirement" and ensure his departure from the political scene.
Nazarbaev, 81, voted in the capital, Nur-Sultan. He was seen in a short video dropping his ballot into the ballot box and leaving the polling station with a wave of his hand, but with no comment to reporters.
Government opponents had called on Toqaev to postpone the referendum, saying people had not been given enough time to study the proposals. Others said the voting should be canceled altogether.
WATCH: Opposition activists chanted slogans at a polling station in Almaty. Supporters of the unregistered, opposition Democratic Party demonstrated while casting ballots, calling for the release of detained party leader Zhanbolat Mamai.
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Kazakh Opposition Protests Amid Constitution Referendum
Police in Almaty detained Kazakh activist Darkhan Sharipov, who protested against the referendum, which he said would only achieve "partial reforms, not political ones."
In some cities and districts in the Qaraghandy region, where an RFE/RL reporter visited polling stations and talked with people in the streets, not all of the residents understood exactly what they were voting for and what specifically would change in the constitution.
In Prishakhtinsk, a suburb of Qaraghandy, some of the voters asked members of the commission to acquaint them with the amendments.
Ksenia Sinitsyna, secretary of polling station 120, told RFE/RL that voters were provided with information, including in printed form, and their questions were answered. Some voters took the printouts home to study them and then returned to vote, Sinitsyna said.
The changes would bar the country's president from being a member of a political party while holding office. Perhaps even more importantly, relatives of the president would not be allowed to hold any key positions in the public sector.
SEE ALSO: Is Real Change Coming? Kazakhs Skeptical About Vote To Remove 'Nazarbaev' Benefits From ConstitutionThat measure is seen as an attempt to prevent the incredible depth of nepotism that occurred under Nazarbaev.
The number of Senate members appointed by the president would be reduced from the current 15 to 10.
But the president would maintain the right to appoint the prime minister, the cabinet members, the prosecutor-general, the security chief, the heads of the National Bank, and the Central Election Commission along with several other key posts.
The chief executive would also retain the power to appoint provincial governors and the mayors of cities, including the capital, despite widespread calls from public activists for governors and mayors to be elected by voters.
The right to appoint powerful regional governors is seen as an important political tool for the president, as governors can be used to swing an election by controlling the voting process in the authoritarian country where international observers say free and fair elections are not held.
The one who stands to lose the most if the referendum is approved is Nazarbaev, who led Kazakhstan from 1990 until 2019 and enjoyed significant political sway as ex-president until the bloody nationwide unrest in January that left at least 238 people dead.
The revised constitution removes all references to Nazarbaev as "elbasy" (leader of the nation), which would cement his fall from grace that began with demands by anti-government protesters to end his family's grip on the country's politics and riches.
Nazarbaev and his close relatives would also lose their lifelong immunity from prosecution if the referendum is approved.
The constitutional overhaul would reduce the number or lawmakers in the Mazhilis, or lower house of parliament, to 98 from the current 107 members.
The Senate would also lose its power to make new laws but would vote on bills passed by the Mazhilis and as well as vote to confirm nominations for prosecutor-general, security chief, and other key positions submitted by the president.
Many analysts have seen the referendum as a bid by Toqaev to prepare for the next presidential election, scheduled for 2024.
Some observers reported irregularities, according to RFE/RL. In the western region, an observer reported that ballots were in the ballot box before the start of voting, and RFE/RL reporters were barred from reporting from some polling stations.
Kazakhstan has been rated "not free" by the U.S.-based NGO Freedom House, which has said its "parliamentary and presidential elections are neither free nor fair, and major parties exhibit continued loyalty to the government."