NUR-SULTAN – The upcoming week will be busy for Kazakh political parties, as the nomination of candidates kicked off Nov. 10 for the upcoming Majilis elections scheduled for Jan. 10 next year.
Majilis building in Nur-Sultan. Photo credit: Majilis press service
The Majilis is the lower chamber of the Kazakh Parliament consisting of 107 deputies, who are elected for a five-year term. Nine deputies of the Majilis are elected by the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan
The nomination of candidates based on party lists will continue through Nov. 30 and the registration will last until Dec. 10, followed by an election campaign.
The nomination of candidates to maslikhats, local representative bodies, will end Dec. 4.
Six parties will compete in the elections. These include the Nur Otan Party, the Ak Zhol Democratic Party, the Communist People’s Party of Kazakhstan, the Auyl People’s Democratic Patriotic Party, the Birlik Political Party and the National Social Democratic Party.
They recently announced the dates for their meetings where they will decide on the election programme and party lists.
The Communist party will meet Nov. 11, the Auyl party Nov. 18 and the Ak Zhol party Nov. 20.
The Birlik party, which was recently renamed the Adal party, scheduled their meeting for Nov. 16. The party said its programme will focus on increasing the incomes of the population, ensuring a just state, developing education and human capital, regional and agricultural development, creating conditions for young people and fighting against corruption.
The National Social Democratic Party initially planned to meet Nov. 13, but postponed the meeting until Nov. 27 to “allow more time for studying all incoming suggestions in more detail, adjust the election programme and the party list.”
Kazakhstan’s ruling Nur Otan party, which currently has a majority of 84 deputies in the Majilis, will gather Nov. 25, said its chair and Kazakhstan’s First President Nursultan Nazarbayev. The meeting of the party’s political council bureau will take place Nov. 24.
Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed a decree in October scheduling Majilis elections for Jan. 10, 2021.
The previous elections were held in March 2016. Six political parties participated in the elections and three of them, including Nur Otan (82.2 percent), Ak Zhol Democratic Party of Kazakhstan (7.18 percent), the Communist People’s Party of Kazakhstan (7.14 percent), received more than 7 percent of the votes and won the right to delegate their deputies to the chamber.
