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Elections in Kazakhstan

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Ballot boxes, Kazakh flag and state seal in an Astana polling place before the 2007 legislative elections.

Elections in Kazakhstan are held on a national level to elect a President and the Parliament, which is divided into two bodies, the Majilis (Lower House) and the Senate (Upper House). Local elections for maslihats (local representative bodies) are held every five years.[1]

Elections are administered by the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

There are 7 legal political parties in Kazakhstan.[2] Kazakhstan’s political opposition is the most developed in the region in terms of its organizational abilities and resources.[3][need quotation to verify]

None of the elections held in Kazakhstan have been considered free or fair by Western countries or international observers[4] with issues noted including ballot tampering,[5][6] multiple voting,[6] repression of opposition candidates[7] and press censorship.[8] However, robust reforms have been implemented since 2019 and the OSCE ODI stated in its post-2021 parliamentary election report that "candidates were able to campaign freely."[9] The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights has deployed election monitors to Kazakhstan at the invitation of the government for observation of parliamentary and presidential elections since 1999.[10]

Election procedures and technology

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Voting booths, each with an AIS "Sailau" touch-screen electronic voting machine.

Prior to the 2012 parliamentary elections, many Kazakh voters were offered a choice of voting on electronic voting machines or on paper ballots. At least some of the ballot boxes used in Kazakhstan are transparent in order to defend against ballot box stuffing. Each polling place was equipped with both a large ballot box and smaller mobile ballot boxes. The latter are designed to be carried, by poll-workers, to voters outside the polling place.[11] This is an alternative to offering absentee ballots or proxy voting for voters with disabilities that prevent them from going to the polls.

Electronic voting in Kazakhstan is based on the AIS "Sailau" electronic voting system developed in Belarus and Kazakhstan. This system is best described as an indirect-recording electronic voting system, as opposed to the DRE voting machines that have been more widely studied.[12] In this system, the touch-screen voting terminal in the voting booth serves as a ballot marking device, recording selections on a smart card. The voting terminal itself retains no record of the vote after the voter takes the smart card. The voter then takes the smart card containing the cast ballot record to the computer at the registration table that serves as the electronic ballot box where the permanent record of the vote is retained and tabulated.

On November 16, 2011, Kuandyk Turgankulov, head of the Central Election Commission, said that the Sailau system would be discontinued because the voters prefer paper ballots, the political parties do not trust it, and the country lacks the funds required to update the system.[13]

Election financing

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Candidates for elected office in Kazakhstan can receive state financial support to cover campaign costs.[14] In Senate elections, each candidate receives about $2,170.

In Senate races, the state budget pays for each candidate’s 15-minute TV address (115 thousand tenge, approx. $303), 10 minutes on the radio (60 thousand tenge, approx. $158), 2 articles in the media (105 thousand tenge, approx. $276), hall rent for meeting with the voters (20 thousand tenge, approx. $53), publication of printed campaign materials (25 thousand tenge, approx. $66) and traveling (for Oblasts - 70 thousand tenge, approx. $184; for Astana and Almaty cities - 35 thousand tenge, approx. $92).

Observation

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There have been several international election observation missions organised in Kazakhstan. The OSCE has observed the elections.

Elections date observing organisation head of mission
early Majilis March 20, 2016 ODIHR/OSCE[15] Boris Frlec
early Majilis March 20, 2016 executive committee/CIS Sergey Lebedev
early presidential April 26, 2015 ODIHR/OSCE[16] Cornelia Jonker
early Majilis January 15, 2012 ODIHR/OSCE[17] Miklós Haraszti
early senate January 15, 2012 ODIHR/OSCE[17] Miklós Haraszti

Presidential elections

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Kazakhstan's president is elected by the people and serves a single seven-year term.

Term limits were removed for the incumbent Nursultan Nazarbayev on 18 May 2007, when parliament also voted to reduce the term length from seven to five years.[18]

Early presidential elections were called by President Nazarbayev and were held on April 26, 2015.[19] President Barack Obama sent a letter to President Nazarbayev congratulating him on his reelection in the April 26 election.[20]

After President Nazarbayev' resignation in March 2019,[21] snap presidential elections were held on June 9, 2019 with former Senate Chair Kassym-Jomart Tokayev emerging as the winner.[22] In September 2022, the parliament approved changing the term length from five to seven years while lowering the amount of terms to one.[23] In the same month, early presidential elections were called for 20 November 2022.[24]

2022 Presidential election

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Main article: 2022 Kazakh presidential election
CandidatePartyVotes%
Kassym-Jomart TokayevPeople's Coalition (Ind.)6,456,39281.31
Jiguli DairabaevAuyl People's Democratic Patriotic Party (Ind.)271,6413.42
Qaraqat ÄbdenNational Alliance of Professional Social Workers (Amanat)206,2062.60
Meiram Qajyken"Amanat" Commonwealth of Trade Unions (Ind.)200,9072.53
Nurlan ÄuesbaevNationwide Social Democratic Party176,1162.22
Saltanat TursynbekovaQazaq analary – dästürge jol (Amanat)168,7312.12
Against all460,4845.80
Total7,940,477100.00
Valid votes7,940,47795.67
Invalid/blank votes359,5694.33
Total votes8,300,046100.00
Registered voters/turnout11,953,46569.44
Source: CEC

Parliamentary elections

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The legislature, known as the Parliament (Parlamenti), has two chambers.

The Assembly (Mazhilis) has 98 members elected for a five-year term, in general elections, in the following way: 70% (69 deputies) from closed list party-list proportional representation allocated using the largest remainder method and 30% (29 deputies) from single-member districts that use the first-past-the-post voting (FPTP) method. There is a 5% electoral threshold.

The Senate has 50 members, 40 of whom are elected to six-year terms by delegates from the 17 provinces and three national cities, half of whom are elected every three years, and 10 are appointed by the President of Kazakhstan.

2023 Legislative election

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Main article: 2023 Kazakh legislative election
PartyParty-listConstituencyTotal
seats		+/–
Votes%SeatsVotes%Seats
Amanat3,431,51053.90402,886,46845.672262–14
Auyl People's Democratic Patriotic Party693,93810.90879,0451.2508+8
Respublica547,1548.5969,4970.1506New
Aq Jol535,1398.416121,0691.9206–6
People's Party of Kazakhstan432,9206.80587,8031.3905–5
Nationwide Social Democratic Party331,0585.20431,7020.5004New
Baytaq Green Party of Kazakhstan146,4312.30017,1660.2700New
Russian Community of Kazakhstan7,9570.1300New
Veterans of the GSFG and Group of Warsaw Pact Forces5,0430.0800New
Astana City Veterans of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict3,5850.0600New
Federation of Kazakhstani Motorists1,5690.0200New
Independents2,820,81044.6377New
Against all248,2913.90–248,2833.93–––
Total6,366,441100.00696,319,997100.00299898
Valid votes6,366,44197.586,319,99799.06
Invalid/blank votes158,0462.4260,2270.94
Total votes6,524,487100.006,380,224100.00
Registered voters/turnout12,035,57854.2112,023,56253.06
Source: CEC CEC Nomad.su

Municipal elections

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Citizens for the first time voted to elect local officials on July 25, 2021. Officials were previously appointed to their positions.[25]

Main article: 2021 Kazakh municipal elections

International criticisms

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As of March 2015, none of the elections held in Kazakhstan have been considered free or fair by Western countries or international observers.[4] The 1999 Presidential election attracted criticism from the United States and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) who considered that harassment and intimidation of opposition candidates and supporters and the disqualification of an opponent of Nazarbayev[26] had made a meaningful election impossible. The OSCE criticised the 2011 presidential election, citing a lack of press freedom, transparency and competition.[27] Following the 2005 election, they noted a number of issues, including ballot tampering, multiple voting, intimidation and harassment of opposition candidates and their supporters, media bias and official restrictions on free expression.[28]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Kazakhstan Archived 2008-06-19 at the Wayback Machine Legislation Online
  2. ^ "В Казахстане зарегистрирована партия Respublica" [Respublica party registered in Kazakhstan]. Kapital (in Russian). 18 January 2023. Archived from the original on 26 March 2024. Retrieved 21 January 2023.
  3. ^ Junisbai, Barbara (2005). "Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan: A Case Study in Economic Liberalization, Intra-elite Cleavage, and the Political Opposition" (PDF). Demokratizatsiya (Summer): 17. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2016-09-02. Retrieved 2016-03-16.
  4. ^ a b Kazakhstan's long term president to run in snap election – again Archived 2019-09-11 at the Wayback Machine, The Guardian, 11 March 2015
  5. ^ "Kazakhstan". Archived from the original on 20 February 2016. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
  6. ^ a b Isaacs, Rico (21 March 2011). Party System Formation in Kazakhstan. p. 94. ISBN 9781136791086. Archived from the original on 20 January 2023. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  7. ^ Isaacs, Rico (21 March 2011). Party System Formation in Kazakhstan. p. 89. ISBN 9781136791086. Archived from the original on 20 January 2023. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  8. ^ "VIOLATIONS OF THE RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION". Archived from the original on 20 October 2012. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
  9. ^ "ODIHR Limited Election Observation Mission Final Report" (PDF). OSCE ODIHR. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-05-09. Retrieved 2021-05-23.
  10. ^ "Elections in Kazakhstan". osce.org. OSCE. Archived from the original on 2011-03-02. Retrieved 2011-04-18.
  11. ^ Chapter 7 Archived 2011-07-22 at the Wayback Machine, Article 41, Paragraph 6, of the Kazakh Election Law Archived 2011-07-22 at the Wayback Machine, as amended, June 2007.
  12. ^ Douglas W. Jones, The Sailau E-Voting System, Direct Democracy: Progress and Pitfalls of Election Technology Archived 2013-05-26 at the Wayback Machine, Michael Yard, ed., International Foundation for Electoral Systems Archived 2010-03-06 at the Wayback Machine, Sept. 2010; pages 74-95.
  13. ^ Sailau e-system will not be used at Kazakhstan parliamentary elections in 2012 Archived 2012-07-07 at archive.today, Tengri News Archived 2012-04-13 at the Wayback Machine, Nov. 11, 2011.
  14. ^ "Senate elections in Kazakhstan to be held soon". TengriNews. Archived from the original on 2014-08-10. Retrieved 2014-08-11.
  15. ^ "Early Parliamentary Elections, 20 March 2016 - OSCE". www.osce.org. Archived from the original on 21 April 2018. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
  16. ^ "Early Presidential Election, 26 April 2015 - OSCE". www.osce.org. Archived from the original on 21 April 2018. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
  17. ^ a b "Observation of Early Parliamentary Elections in Kazakhstan, 15 January 2012: Information Sheet - Request for Short-Term Observers - OSCE". www.osce.org. Archived from the original on 21 April 2018. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
  18. ^ Kazakh MPs lift presidency limit Archived 2007-05-30 at the Wayback Machine BBC News
  19. ^ "Kazakhstan president Nursultan Nazarbayev wins re-election with 97.7 per cent of vote". AFP/Reuters. April 27, 2015. Archived from the original on 2021-11-04. Retrieved 2015-05-26.
  20. ^ "Obama Recommits to Working with Nazarbayev in New Term". The Astana Times. Archived from the original on 2015-06-23. Retrieved 2015-06-23.
  21. ^ "Kazakhstan's leader Nazarbayev resigns after three decades in power". Reuters. 2019-03-19. Archived from the original on 2022-01-08. Retrieved 2022-10-07.
  22. ^ "Nazarbayev protégé wins Kazakhstan elections marred by protests". France 24. 2019-06-10. Archived from the original on 2022-09-22. Retrieved 2022-10-07.
  23. ^ "Kazakh President Signs Legislation Changing Presidential Term, Name Of Capital". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. Archived from the original on 2022-10-07. Retrieved 2022-10-07.
  24. ^ "Kazakh leader Tokayev calls snap presidential election". www.aljazeera.com. Archived from the original on 2022-09-21. Retrieved 2022-10-07.
  25. ^ "Voter Turnout Exceeds 65 Percent Across the Board at Rural Elections in Kazakhstan". The Astana Times. Archived from the original on 2021-07-27. Retrieved 2021-07-27.
  26. ^ US criticises Kazakh Court decision Archived 2016-03-07 at the Wayback Machine, BBC News, 26 November 1998
  27. ^ Kazakhstan President Nazarbayev wins re-election Archived 2019-04-13 at the Wayback Machine, BBC News, 4 April 2011
  28. ^ Observers criticise Kazakh president's re-election Archived 2017-04-10 at the Wayback Machine, The Observer, 5 December 2005
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