On June 24, a meeting of Central Election Commission is held on organization and conduct of elections of akims of rural districts

The meeting is attended by representatives of the Agency for Civil Service Affairs, General Prosecutor's Office, National Security Committee, Ministries of Justice, Finance, Internal Affairs as well as political parties, territorial election commissions of regions in videoconferencing regime, and media representatives online.

The following issues were put on the agenda of the meeting:

1. On approval of standard main activities schedule for preparation and conduct of elections of akims of cities of regional significance, villages, townships, rural districts of the Republic of Kazakhstan;

2. On amendments and additions to some decisions of Central Election Commission of the Republic of Kazakhstan;

3. On list of documents submitted by candidates for akims of a city of district significance, a village, a township, a rural district to the district (city) election commission to verify compliance with the requirements of the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the field of public service;

4. On establishment of electoral documents forms for elections of akims of cities of district significance, villages, townships, rural districts of the Republic of Kazakhstan;

5. On financing elections of akims of cities of district significance, villages, townships, rural districts of the Republic of Kazakhstan, including issues of candidates' expenses;

6. On organization of electoral training during election campaign for akims of the rural level and educational-methodical complex -"Elections of akims of cities of district significance, villages, townships, rural districts of the Republic of Kazakhstan: legal basis of electoral process and organization of election commissions' work ";

7. On measures to prevent spread of coronavirus infection COVID-19 during organization and conduct of elections of akims of cities of district significance, villages, townships and rural districts;

8. On approval of instruction on work and maintenance of Internet pages of territorial election commissions of the Republic of Kazakhstan during elections of akims of cities of regional significance, villages, townships, rural districts.

In the first part of the meeting, four items on the agenda were considered.

Yerlan Dauylbayev, a member of the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Kazakhstan made a report on the first issue of the agenda.

He reported in detail on powers of election commissions of all levels during elections of rural akims, and also noted that Central Election Commission provides methodological assistance during elections of akims to TECs, establishes forms of electoral documents and provides funding for electoral events within its powers. Preparation and conduct of direct elections of rural akims is an exclusive competence of territorial election commissions of districts and cities.

Within the framework of the report, Yerlan Dauylbayev stopped at every stage of the election campaign. Thus, he reported that according to the electoral legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan elections are called by territorial election commissions at least 40 days in advance and are held at least 10 days before expiration of the term of office of the current akim. In case of early termination of akim's powers elections are scheduled within a month and are held within a month from the date of their appointment.

The nomination of candidates begins on the day following the day of calling the elections and ends at eighteen o'clock local time, fifteen days before the day of the elections.

Candidates can be nominated in the following ways:

1) political parties from among their members. At the same time, a political party has the right to nominate only one candidate in one electoral district;

2) by self-nomination, ensuring the collection of signatures of at least 1% of the total number of voters of the corresponding district who have the right to vote.

3) akim of the district (city of regional significance), if less than two candidates are nominated on the day of the end of the nomination.

In order to be elected as the akim of a city of regional significance, a village, a township, a rural district, a citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan must be at least 25 years old, capable, meet the requirements of the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the field of public service, have no convictions and the fact of committing a corruption offense, corruption offenses recognized in the prescribed manner.

A candidate for akim of a city of district significance, a village, a township, a rural district, in the event of his self-nomination, must be supported by at least one percent of votes of the total number of voters of the corresponding electoral district who have right to vote. Voter support is certified by collection of their signatures.

Registration of candidates begins after receiving all necessary documents and ends at eighteen o'clock local time, 10 days before election day.

Election campaigning of candidates begins from the moment of the registration termination period for candidates, i.e. 10 days before election day, and ends at zero hours local time on the day before election day.

The election results are established by the territorial election commission of the district (city) within three days.

The elected akim of a city of district significance, a village, a township, a rural district is considered to be a candidate who has received the largest number of votes of voters who took part in voting compared to other candidates.

Territorial election commissions of the district (city) carry out registration of the elected akim within seven days.

The powers of elected akim begin from the moment of his registration by the relevant territorial election commission.

Serik Sydykov, member of the Central Election Commission, spoke on the second issue of the meeting. He reported that in connection with the introduction of direct elections of akims of cities of regional significance, a village, a township, a rural district, the Resolution of the Central Election Commission "On amendments and additions to some decisions of the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Kazakhstan" No. 4/408 provides for amendments to 11 resolutions of the CEC related to issues:

1) Rules for opening a special temporary account and spending the electoral fund (CEC Resolution No. 19/222 of August 7, 1999);

2) Rules for implementation of pre-election campaigning throughmedia and information support for elections of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, deputies of Parliament, maslikhats of the Republic of Kazakhstan, as well as members of other local government bodies (CEC Resolution No. 90/178 of June 25, 2007);

3) Rules and conditions for holding pre-election debates (CEC Resolution No. 12/198 of August 25, 2018);

4) Rules for issuing and recording absentee ballots (CEC Resolution No. 161/306 of April 8, 2009);

5) Instructions on registration of proxies (CEC Resolution No. 62/108 of November 21, 2011);

6) Rules for storage of electoral documents (CEC Resolution No. 11/236 of July 17, 2014);

7) Forms of ballots for voting in elections of the President, deputies of Mazhilis of the Parliament, deputies of maslikhats of the Republic of Kazakhstan (CEC Resolution No. 11/192 of 23 August 2018);

8) Rules for formation of voter lists for voting, as well as their submission to election commissions (CEC Resolution No. 11/197 of 23 August 2018);

9) Rules and volume of placement of messages of election commissions by periodicals at the expense of funds provided by the republican and local budgets (dated August 25, 2018, No. 12/201);

10) Rules and volumes of allocation of funds to candidates for speaking in the media (dated August 25, 2018 No. 12/202);

11) Rules for amending ballot papers in case of candidacy withdrawal, cancellation of the decision to nominate a candidate, cancellation of the decision on registration of candidates, party lists (dated September 19, 2018 No. 16/209).

Darkhan Zhazykbayev, Deputy Chairman of the Agency for Civil Service Affairs, spoke on the third issue of the agenda.

He reported that candidates for akims of a city of district significance, a village, a township, a rural district shall submit the following documents to the district (city) election commission in order to verify compliance with requirements of the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the field of public service:

1) a copy of the identity document of a citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan;

2) track record of a candidate for akim of a city of district significance, a village, a township, a rural district in the form, according to the appendix to this list;

3) a copy of the work book;

4) copies of educational documents.

Copies of educational documents issued to holders of the international scholarship "Bolashak" are accompanied by a copy of the certificate of completion of training under the international scholarship of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan "Bolashak", issued by the joint-stock company "Center for International Programs".

Dauren Iskakov, head of the electoral process organization department of the Central Election Commission, made a report on the fourth issue of the meeting.

He reported that the Central Election Commission establishes forms of electoral documents for elections of akims of cities of regional significance, villages, townships, rural districts of the Republic of Kazakhstan in accordance with the Constitutional Act "On Elections in the Republic of Kazakhstan".

Thus, the Central Election Commission has prepared 16 forms of electoral documents for elections of rural akims.

The proposed forms of electoral documents are envisaged for formalizing electoral procedures of electoral commissions at specific stages of the campaign: nomination, registration and determination of results.

The second part of the meeting on the remaining agenda issues will take place at 15.00.

Press service

Central Election Commission

of the Republic of Kazakhstan

tel. 75-21-03, 75-23-69

a.khusainova@election.gov.kz

v.zheksembekova@election.gov.kz