The Central Election Commission of Kazakhstan announced the results of the registration of party lists for the election of deputies to the Majilis (lower house) of the parliament, all seven parties registered in the country will take part in the upcoming campaign, Deputy Head of the CEC of the republic Konstantin Petrov said on Saturday.
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President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on January 19 dissolved the Majilis of the Parliament and scheduled extraordinary elections of the chamber’s deputies for March 19. Simultaneously with parliamentary elections, Kazakhstanis will elect deputies of maslikhats (local representative bodies) at all levels.
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Seven political parties are registered in Kazakhstan: the largest Amanat Party, the Ak Zhol Democratic Party, the People’s Party of Kazakhstan, the Auyl People’s Democratic Patriotic Party, the National Social Democratic Party, the Baitak Green Party of Kazakhstan, and the “Party Republic”.
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“Seven lists of political parties claiming 69 mandates of deputies of the Mazhilis of the country’s parliament included 281 candidates,” Petrov said at the meeting.
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According to him, there are 90 people on the list of the Amanat party, 54 of the Ak Zhol party, 52 of the People’s Party of Kazakhstan, 25 of the Auyl, 19 of the OSDP, 18 of the Baitak and 23 of the Respublica.
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He noted that the necessary representation of women, youth and persons with disabilities was observed by each political party. The average age of candidates is 45.7 years, 19 applicants for deputies are under the age of 29. Party lists include 201 men and 80 women.
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Earlier, Tokayev stated that the holding of early elections to the Mazhilis and Maslikhats is connected with the constitutional reform approved at the 2022 referendum. According to the adopted amendments to the basic law, now 70% of the deputies of the Mazhilis will be elected from party lists, and 30% from single-mandate constituencies. Elections to maslikhats of regions and cities of republican significance will be held according to a mixed electoral system, in a ratio of 50 to 50. And in elections to maslikhats of regions and cities of regional significance, citizens will vote only for candidates in single-mandate constituencies.
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Before these changes were made to the legislation, Majilis and Maslikhats were formed exclusively on the basis of party lists.
