On February 22-23, 2022 a working trip of the Head of the Central Election Commission Nurlan Abdirov took place to Atyrau region

On February 22-23, 2022, a working trip of the Head of the Central Election Commission Nurlan Abdirov to the Atyrau region took place.

February 22 this year he met with  akim elected on July 25, 2021 and residents of the Saraishik rural district.

The villagers spoke about the past elections. In their opinion, the introduction of the institution of direct election of akims justifies itself. The opportunity for the villagers to make their own choice increases the requirements for their elected akim and certainly affects the level of trust in the authorities at the local level. 

The elected akim Zheksenbay Pazulov also shared his experience of participating in elections and suggested holding direct debates with participation of all candidates for the position of akim of the village. He also expressed an opinion that for effective management and high-quality performance of their duties, rural akims need to have higher education, professional experience in local government, as well as skills in working with legal acts and accounting.

Following the meeting, the villagers expressed their gratitude to the Central Election Commission for the opportunity to conduct a direct dialogue with it on the issues of electoral process.

On February 23 this year the CEC Chairman met with representatives of political parties, NGOs, public opinion leaders, journalists, bloggers, members of the region's election commissions.

A thorough exchange of views on various issues of improving the electoral process took place. In particular the issues as development of political competition, openness and transparency of elections, the introduction of digital technologies, raising the status of observers and the work of election commissions to provide the necessary conditions for voters with disabilities were discussed.

On this day Nurlan Abdirov also met with young voters, students of universities and colleges in Atyrau.

The participants put forward a number of specific proposals for  modernization of the electoral process. Thus, students proposed holding elections using blockchain technologies, using social networks as campaign platforms for conducting election campaigning of candidates and political parties and informing voters in a new format. It should be noted that among the youth there were also those who expressed a desire to become volunteers at the upcoming electoral processes.

Following the meeting, the CEC Chairman expressed gratitude to students for open dialogue and stressed that "youth is the future of New Kazakhstan and its active participation in the electoral process is especially important at the current stage of development of our country."

Participants have expressed their opinions at all meetings regarding legal requirements for candidates for elected positions. With the exception of a few participants an absolute majority was strongly in favor of candidates having higher education experience in public service or elected positions. At the same time candidates who have an outstanding and unexpunged criminal record as well as those who have committed corruption offenses should not be allowed to participate in the elections in their opinion. In addition participants believe that candidates for the post of President must also be citizens of the Republic of Kazakhstan, permanently reside on its territory and undergo linguistic procedures to establish fluency in the state language. Deputies of the Mazhilis and maslikhats elected on party lists, cannot move from one political party to another.

Press service

Central Election Commission

of the Republic of Kazakhstan

tel. 75-23-69

v.zheksembekova@election.gov.kz