Kazakhstan’s seven political parties nominate 283 candidates

Kazakhstan’s seven political parties nominated 283 candidates to the Central Election Commission (CEC) to participate in the March 19 elections to the Mazhilis

Astana, The Gulf Observer: Seven political parties in Kazakhstan submitted their party lists with a total of 283 candidates to the Central Election Commission (CEC) to participate in the March 19 elections to the Mazhilis, the lower chamber of the Kazakh Parliament, as the nomination period ended on Feb. 8 at 6 p.m., announced CEC Deputy Chair Konstantin Petrov during their meeting on Feb. 9 in Astana.

The Amanat Party, which received the majority of seats in the 2021 Mazhilis elections after winning 71.09 percent of votes, submitted 90 candidates, the highest among all the other parties.

The Aq Zhol Democratic Party submitted 54 candidates, the Auyl People’s Democratic Patriotic Party – 25 candidates, the Baitak green party – 18 candidates, the National Social Democratic Party – 19 candidates, the People’s Party of Kazakhstan – 52 candidates, and the Respublica party – 25 candidates.

“A political party had no right to include persons who were not party members in the party lists. The number of people included in the party list should not exceed the established number of deputy mandates distributed among political parties by 30 percent. This is a maximum of 90 people. It could also have been less. The parties themselves determined how many people to include in the party list,” said Petrov.

The elections on March 19 to the Mazhilis and maslikhats, local representative bodies, will take place under the new rules stemming from the changes to the Constitution adopted last year.

For the first time since 2004, 29 out of 98 deputies in the chamber will be elected from single-mandate districts.

Petrov said 609 candidates were nominated to stand in single-mandate districts. In the Kazakh capital Astana, 126 candidates were nominated from two districts, and in Almaty, 143 candidates for three districts, the highest ratios in the country.

CEC Chairman Nurlan Abdirov said on average, 21 candidates have been put forward to compete in single-mandate districts. The highest is in Astana, where 63 candidates will compete for one seat, and the lowest is in the Ulytau Region – six candidates for one seat.

Abdirov noted the CEC received nominations from 14,207 candidates, including 892 candidates for the Mazhilis and 13,315 candidates for deputies of the maslikhats.

Candidates will compete for 98 seats in the Mazhilis and 3,415 in the maslikhats – 668 at the regional level, 617 for the cities, and 2,130 for the districts.

The CEC will continue verifying and approving the documents until Feb. 18, said Abdirov. 

Following registration, the election campaign will run until 00.00 of March 18. The following day, March 18, will be a day of silence. The CEC will have ten days following the election on March 19 to announce the results.