March 31 - April 1, 2022 Chairman of the Central Election Commission Nurlan Abdirov paid a working visit to Almaty region

The working trips of the Chairman of the Central Election Commission Nurlan Abdirov to the regions continue. This time he visited Almaty region.

On March 31 this year an offsite meeting of the Central Election Commission for the election of a deputy of the Senate of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan from the Almaty region instead of the retired one which was scheduled for April 22, 2002 was held under the chairmanship of Nurlan Abdirov in Taldykorgan.

The meeting was held in an open mode with participation of members of the territorial election commissions of the Almaty region, candidates for deputies of the Senate of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan, representatives of youth and the media.

At the end of the meeting, the Head of the CEC held a separate meeting with youth of the region during which the issues of developing a legal culture and increasing the electoral activity of young people were discussed.

The head of the CEC noted the importance of youth participation in elections and the importance of the vote of each voter and also answered questions from young voters.

The audience listened to the speech of the Chairman of the CEC with interest. During his speech he introduced the youth to the electoral systems used in elections at various levels, the work of the electoral bodies of the Republic of Kazakhstan, powers and principles of the formation of election commissions.

During the meeting, young people were invited to take part in an online survey on key issues of the electoral process, according to the results of which: 54.5% of respondents support the introduction of remote electronic voting using computers, smartphones, tablets, 27% - for mixed electronic voting (stationary, remote), 63.6% of respondents believe that a candidate for the President of the country must know the state language and a linguistic exam is mandatory; 54.5% of the respondents answered that a citizen who had a criminal record cannot be nominated for elected positions of the President, deputy, akim. Also, 45.5% of respondents answered that a deputy elected on a party list cannot move from one party to another. It should be noted that for the first time such surveys are conducted in electronic format.

In conclusion, Nurlan Abdirov wished the youth success in achieving their goals and urged them to actively use their suffrage granted to them by the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

On April 1, 2022 the Chairman of the Central Election Commission Nurlan Abdirov met with representatives of political parties, NGOs, media, members of the public council, leaders of public opinion, bloggers, members of election commissions of the city of Almaty region at the House of Culture named after I. Zhansugurov. The event was attended by about 400 people.

The meeting discussed the proposed modernization of the electoral process, voiced in the Message of the Head of State Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to the people of Kazakhstan "New Kazakhstan: The path of renewal and modernization" dated March 16, 2022.

During an active and meaningful discussion members of the CEC listened to numerous proposals and answered questions directly related to the electoral system.

The head of the NGO "Center for Sustainable Development Ochaq", professor of the branch of the Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan in Almaty region Sarkytbek Moldabayev noted the importance and necessity of legal education of the population in the field of electoral law and proposed to train representatives of political parties, public associations, candidates, proxies, observers, media systematically.

He also shared his experience of monitoring elections in foreign countries and suggested considering the possibility of introducing digital technologies into the electoral process.

However, other participants believe that this may cause some organizational and technical risks. So, they noted that there is a digital divide in the regions and there are also problems of uninterrupted access of the population to the Internet. Moreover, the digital literacy of the older voter in rural areas lags behind that of the younger generation.

JSC Kazakhtelecom veteran Zheksenbay Meirambayev proposed to introduce a mixed type of voting, covering both electronic voting and traditional voting using paper ballots. He noted that in places where there is a problem with the Internet traditional approaches could be used to vote.

Taking into account the upcoming elections of a deputy of the Senate of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan, as well as the elections of rural akims, proposals were received on the need to hold pre-election debates among candidates.

Nurlan Abdirov noted that he supports holding debates. Candidates can organize and conduct debates without any restrictions. At the same time, the debate provides the voter with a unique opportunity to test the personal qualities of the candidates. Therefore, holding free and open debates is an important sign of the competitive nature of elections.

On the same day, representatives of the Central Election Commission visited the Mukrynsky rural district of the Koksu district where they got acquainted with the work of the akim on the development of the village, and also met with its residents. In general, the villagers positively assess activities of their elected akim and put forward proposals to expand sources of formation of the budget of the rural akimat.

Also, the Chairman of the Central Election Commission visited the Enbekshinsky rural district of the Koksu district where he got acquainted with the work of the precinct election commission No. 664 of the village of Amangeldy on the preparation of voting for the election of the akim of the rural district scheduled for April 3 this year. Members of the precinct election commission reported to the Chairman of the CEC on organizational and technical support of the premises for voting, on creation of necessary conditions for voters with disabilities.

Following the meeting, Nurlan Abdirov noted that, in accordance with the electoral legislation, it is necessary to ensure the transparency of the upcoming elections of the rural akim.

In addition, on the same day, the Head of the CEC held a working meeting with members of the election commissions of the city of Kapshagay during which the issues of the election commissions activities taking into account the forthcoming division of the region into two regions were considered.

All meetings of the Chairman of the Central Election Commission with the public of the Almaty region as in other regions were broadcast online on the official page of the Jetisy Media Information Platform on the Facebook social network https://www.facebook.com/groups/jetisymedia/permalink/ 4950963901623550/

It should be noted that the Almaty region became the ninth region visited by the Chairman of the Central Election Commission Nurlan Abdirov. Earlier, similar meetings of the CEC Chairman were held in Zhambyl, Mangystau, Kyzylorda, Atyrau, Turkestan, Aktobe, Akmola regions, as well as in Nur-Sultan. The next working trip is planned to Kostanay region on April 4-5 this year.