Parliamentary elections were held in Kazakhstan on 23 August – the first to be held under the revised Constitution, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s regional service ‘Azattyk’.
Under the new rules, the unicameral parliament – the Kurultai – is formed on the basis of party lists.
On polling day, more than 10,000 polling stations opened across Kazakhstan. A further 79 are located at the country’s diplomatic missions in 61 foreign countries.
Voting began at 07:00 and continued until 20:00 (local time).
According to preliminary data from the Central Election Commission, 74.19 per cent of voters had cast their ballots by 8.00 pm. The lowest turnout was recorded in Almaty – 43.23 per cent. In Astana, turnout stood at 51.67 per cent.
As of 19:00 local time, 6,007 Kazakhstani citizens had cast their votes at polling stations abroad, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Deputy Foreign Minister Arman Isetov stated that voting had concluded in 11 countries – South Korea, Japan, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Mongolia, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam.
A total of 11,402 voters from Kazakhstan registered to vote abroad.
Under the new constitution, voters cast their ballots according to party lists. There are no independent candidates in the election. The ballot paper also includes an option to vote ‘against all’.
Seven parties were admitted to the parliamentary elections. In total, the parties nominated 545 candidates.
One of the key innovations of the new Constitution was the transformation of the parliament from a bicameral to a unicameral body and its renaming as the Kurultai. The Kurultai now consists of 145 members, elected for a five-year term under a proportional representation system, that is, via party lists.
The country’s leadership claimed that these changes would improve the system of representation and the calibre of parliamentarians. Critics emphasised that citizens who are not members of political parties would be unable to stand for election as MPs, and pointed out that opposition groups have for years been unable to secure party registration with the Ministry of Justice of Kazakhstan.