IPA CIS Observers Discussed Election Campaign in Kazakhstan with Representatives of Rival Parties

On 3 March, the IPA CIS Observer Team met with the leadership and representatives of the election headquarters of the AMANAT party and the Nationwide Social Democratic Party. Participants of the early elections to the Mazhilis shared their impressions in an online format about the electoral campaign and answered questions from observers.

Deputy Head IPA CIS Council Secretariat, Director of the International Institute for Monitoring the Democracy Development, Parliamentarianism and Suffrage Protection of Citizens of IPA CIS Member Nations (IPA CIS IIMDD) Ivan Mushket said that the IPA CIS international observers conducted long-term monitoring of the election campaign and they planned to visit polling stations in the capital, regions of the Republic of Kazakhstan and its foreign representative offices in the future.

Ivan Mushket stressed that observers assessed the changes made to the electoral legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan as consistent with the provisions of is the Convention on the Standards of Democratic Elections, Electoral Rights and Freedoms in the CIS Member Nations.

Secretary of the AMANAT party Daulet Karibek took part in the meeting and noted that the new provisions of the republic legislation on the campaign regulation in the Internet space made the electoral process more honest and open.

Representatives of both parties informed international observers that they had no information about any violations on the part of participants in the electoral process.

Earlier, the Observer Team held meetings with representatives of the campaign headquarters of the Democratic Party of Kazakhstan “Ak Zhol”, the People’s Party of Kazakhstan, the People’s Democratic Party.

The IPA CIS international observers monitor the parliamentary elections in Kazakhstan at the invitation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic.  The elections to the Mazhilis will be held on 19 March. Mandates will be distributed according to a mixed system: 70% of deputies will be elected by party lists, and 30% — by single-mandate constituencies. Seven political parties take part in the election campaign, two of them for the first time.