ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s governing party, led by President Nursultan Nazarbayev, won another massive victory while other parties from the legislature’s previous roster also retained their presence in Mazhilis (lower house of Parliament), according to the Central Election Commission (CEC) results of the March 20 parliamentary election.
CEC Chairman Kuandyk Turgankulov. Photo credit: Bnews.kz
According to data announced by CEC Chairman Kuandyk Turgankulov at a press briefing in Astana on March 21, the election resulted in the following distribution of a popular vote:
Nur Otan Party – 82.15 percent
Ak Zhol Democratic Party – 7.18 percent
Communist People’s Party – 7.14 percent
Auyl People’s Democratic Patriotic Party – 2 percent
Nationwide Social Democratic Party – 1.18 percent
Birlik Political Party – 0.29 percent.
The results, which were close to exit poll projections made by Astana-based Institute of Democracy pollsters the night after the election, meant that, apart from Nur Otan, only right-of-the-centre, pro-business Ak Zhol and the Communist People’s Party running on a traditional Marxist Leninist platform succeeded in overcoming the seven-percent threshold and will again serve as a parliamentary opposition. The other three parties will need to prove their viability in the five years before the next scheduled election.
Final CEC results will be announced by March 26. The turnout was earlier announced to be 77.1 percent.
Also on March 21, the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan (APK) held a special session to choose its representatives in the parliament. A secret vote at the session resulted in electing nine deputies representing various ethnic community associations, which will now join their counterparts from party ranks in the new convocation of Mazhilis. Kazakhstan’s Constitution guarantees the APK nine seats in the parliament’s lower house to ensure the country’s ethnic diversity is reflected in the national legislature.
