NUR-SULTAN – Six political parties will participate in the upcoming elections to the Majilis scheduled for Jan. 10, 2021, Kazakhstan’s Central Election Commission (CEC) said on Thursday.
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.
“As of November 2020, six political parties were registered in Kazakhstan. These are the Nur Otan Party, Ak Zhol Democratic Party, Communist People’s Party of Kazakhstan, Auyl People’s Democratic Patriotic Party, Birlik Political Party and National Social Democratic Party. The above mentioned political parties are active and there is no information about their reorganization or liquidation,” said Kazakh Deputy Justice Minister Natalya Pan.
During the meeting, which gathered representatives of political parties, the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Ministries of Justice, Internal Affairs, Finance, and Healthcare, regional election commissions, and media, CEC Chair Berik Imashev said the parties will begin nominating their candidates based on party lists Nov. 10 through Nov. 30.
The nomination of candidates to maslikhats will start Nov. 10 and end Dec. 4.
Party lists will also have to include a mandatory gender quota of at least 30 percent women and young people under 29 years old, according to a new requirement.
All parties, except for the Birlik party, were allowed to participate in the maslikhat (local representative bodies) elections. The Birlik party did not register its branches in the Turkestan Region and Shymkent, said Imashev, but if they manage to complete registration in time, they will be allowed to take part in the elections.
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.
Currently, the Nur Otan party has a majority of 84 deputies in the Majilis, the Ak Zhol and the Communist People’s party have 7 deputies each.
