Press release on the meeting of the Central Election Commission

On March 7, as part of the preparation and conduct of the elections of members to the Mazhilis of the Parliament and maslikhats of the Republic of Kazakhstan, a regular meeting of the Central Election Commission was held under the chairmanship of Nurlan Abdirov.

The meeting considered issues of holding pre-election debates, accreditation of observers of foreign states and international organisations, issues of implementing online services for checking information about the place of registration of citizens on the e-government portal and registering citizens at the addresses of polling stations, as well as establishing a different start and end time for voting at certain polling stations at the early elections of members of the Mazhilis and maslikhats of the Republic of Kazakhstan, scheduled for March 19, 2023.

The meeting was attended by the chairpersons and members of territorial election commissions of the regions, Astana, Almaty and Shymkent, as well as the heads of the administrations of akims of these regions (in the videoconferencing mode); representatives of political parties, the media, senior officials of the Prosecutor General’s Office, ministries of internal affairs, finance, digital development, innovation and aerospace industry and the management of Khabar Agency JSC were also invited.

Representatives of the OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission and the Mission of Observers from the Commonwealth of Independent States also participated.

The meeting was broadcast via the CEC website and Youtube with sign language translation.

Turning to the first issue on the agenda, Nurlan Abdirov noted that at the meeting on February 27, it was decided to hold pre-election television debates on March 16 on the air of the Khabar TV channel.

CEC member Anastassiya Schegortsova made a report on the issues of holding pre-election television debates at the elections of Mazhilis Members to the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan, scheduled for March 19, 2023.

She said that the Khabar TV channel had developed the Rules for holding pre-election debates of political parties. The regulations establish general requirements for participants, the order of speech, the language of the debate and the duration of the debate.

According to the Regulations, the pre-election debates of political parties will be held in three rounds. Debate participants will have the opportunity to present their electoral programmes, address questions to their opponents, answer voters’ questions, and address the electorate.

By the Resolution of the Central Election Commission, the Regulations for holding debates were approved as well as the composition of the participants in the TV debates, whose candidacies were submitted by political parties (from the AMANAT Political Party – Yerlan Koshanov, from the Auyl People’s Democratic Patriotic Party – Zhiguli Dairabayev, from the Respublica party – Aidarbek Khojanazarov, from the People’s Party of Kazakhstan – Yermukhamet Yertysbayev, from the Baytaq Kazakhstan Green Party – Azamatkhan Amirtayev, from the Ak Zhol Democratic Party of Kazakhstan – Azat Peruashev, from the National Social Democratic Party – Nurlan Auesbayev).

Secretary of the Central Election Commission Mukhtar Yerman spoke on the second issue. He informed that since the opening of the Institution of International Observation, 165 observers from 16 foreign states and 4 international organisations have been accredited.

Today, 157 observers from 23 foreign states and 6 international organisations are nominated for accreditation: 1 each from Azerbaijan, Armenia, Great Britain, Germany, Georgia, Iraq, Spain, Italy, Norway, Russia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia; 2 each from Canada, Mongolia, the Kyrgyz Republic, Pakistan, Poland and Croatia; 3 each from Hungary, Lithuania, Turkey; 4 from the United States of America.

77 candidates were also submitted by the CIS Observer Mission and 11 by the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly.

The observer mission from the Organization of Turkic States submitted 6 candidates; Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic States – 20; Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) – 2 candidates and 3 more candidates were submitted by the International Turkic Academy.

On the third issue, CEC Deputy Chairman Konstantin Petrov made a report and said that local executive bodies had done a lot of work on the voter lists.

At the same time, the practice of past election campaigns shows that often citizens do not take timely measures to check themselves in the voter lists. And they apply for inclusion in the voter list right on the voting day.

Therefore, the Central Election Commission, together with the Ministry of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, have developed and prepared joint acts on the operation of two online services for the current election campaign:

- on checking information at the place of registration of citizens on the e-Government portal (CEC and Ministry of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry);

- on registration of citizens at the addresses of polling stations (CEC, Ministry of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry, Ministry of Internal Affairs).

The essence of the online service for checking information at the place of registration of citizens: members of precinct election commissions who are allowed access to the service through the E-gov portal, upon written request of the voter, can receive information about the place of permanent registration for inclusion in the voter list.

Upon confirmation of the information about the applicant’s permanent registration at the place of residence of the applicant in the territory within the boundaries of the relevant polling station, the precinct election commission makes a decision to include him/her in the voter list. Otherwise, a reasoned decision is made to refuse inclusion in the voter list and the applicant receives a copy of it.

This service will be available at 4,055 polling stations.

Also, in order to exercise the electoral right of citizens removed from registration at the place of residence and not previously included in the voter lists, temporary registration is allowed on election day in the premises at the address of the polling station. Such an opportunity is presented at 188 polling stations across the republic.

In more detail about the work of services, including control mechanisms and the inadmissibility of multiple registration of citizens, Vice Minister of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry Asset Turyssov spoke at the meeting.

Nurlan Abdirov stressed that digital documents, which are an analogue of the original, began to be in great demand among citizens. On voting day, citizens can submit digital documents through the eGov mobile application, as well as mobile applications of popular banks.

In preparation for the current election campaign, members of precinct election commissions underwent additional training on verifying the authenticity of documents.

In order to inform citizens about the possibility of using electronic documents by the Central Election Commission, two videos were prepared in Kazakh and Russian, which were shown during the meeting, they will also be broadcast on the air of republican and regional TV channels.

The Central Election Commission has prepared special videos in two languages on 11 topics of the election campaign, including the inclusion and verification of citizens in the voter lists, absentee voting certificates, voting outside polling stations, voting abroad, etc.

Turning to the fourth issue on the agenda, the CEC Chairman said that the members of the Central Election Commission continue to travel to the regions (as of today they have visited 14 regions), where they check the readiness of the electoral infrastructure, the activities of the election organisers, and provide the necessary methodological and practical assistance to the participants of the electoral process.

In accordance with the regulatory provisions of the Constitutional Act on Elections, as well as the Calendar plans for the main events for the preparation and holding of early elections of members of the Mazhilis of the Parliament and maslikhats, territorial, precinct election commissions carry out a number of necessary events.

Until March 9, 2023, the decisions of the relevant territorial election commissions on establishing a different start and end time for voting in individual polling stations will be communicated to voters.

Concluding the meeting, Nurlan Abdirov noted that today’s meeting was held on the eve of International Women’s Day. Taking the opportunity, the Head of the Central Election Commission warmly congratulated all women on this wonderful spring holiday.

After the meeting, a traditional briefing was held for media representatives, during which CEC members answered all the questions of journalists.