A meeting of the Central Election Commission on the lists of voters, 

the formation of a linguistic commission and other issues was held

On September 28, 2022, a meeting of the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Kazakhstan was held under the chairmanship of Nurlan Abdirov, which was attended by representatives of political parties, the media; members of the territorial election commissions of regions, cities of republican significance and the capital participated via videoconference.

The following issues were considered at the meeting:

1. On the organisation of work with voter lists for the early elections of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, scheduled for November 20, 2022;

2. On the formation of a linguistic commission to establish fluency in the state language in candidates for the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan;

3. On establishing the amount of expenses of a candidate for the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, covered from the funds of the republican budget for the early elections of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, scheduled for November 20, 2022;

4. On the electoral fund of a presidential candidate in the early elections of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, scheduled for November 20, 2022.

1. Deputy Chairman of the Central Election Commission Konstantin Petrov spoke on the first item on the agenda.

He informed that as of July 1, 2022, 11,827,277 citizens with active suffrage were included in the Register of Voters of the Republic.

The bases for including a citizen in the voter list at a particular polling station are:

1) the fact of his/her registration at the place of residence on the territory of this polling station.

2) the appeal of citizens to the local executive body with a written application for inclusion in the relevant voter list.

Temporarily registered citizens, citizens without registration, as well as a voter who, no later than thirty days before the election, became aware that he/she would not be able to arrive on election day at the polling station at the place of registration, shall have the right to register as a voter in the relevant local executive body from the date of appointing the election.

Students studying in secondary specialised and higher educational institutions, as well as under professional training programmes of postgraduate full-time education, living in dormitories, shall be included in the list of voters at the location of the dormitory.

Citizens working on a rotational schedule can also be included in the voter lists on the basis of written applications.

In military units, the lists of voters shall include all servicepersons who are in them, as well as members of their families and other voters residing in the locations of military units. Servicepersons residing outside military units shall be included in the lists of voters at their place of residence on a general basis.

Written applications of citizens for inclusion in the voter lists at the place of residence shall be submitted to the relevant akimats before October 20 this year, i.e. one month before voting day.

Local executive bodies shall ensure that the polling station where the citizen will vote shall be included in the voter list, and organise the exclusion of the citizen from the voter list at the place of registration.

15 days before voting day, i.e. no later than November 4, voter lists for polling stations formed at the place of residence of citizens shall be presented to voters for review.

Citizens shall be provided with the opportunity to get acquainted with the lists of voters in the premises of the relevant election commissions, to check the correctness of the data entered in them about voters.

Every citizen shall have the right to check his/her personal data in the voter lists and appeal against non-inclusion, incorrect inclusion in the list or exclusion from the list, as well as inaccuracies in the voter data in the list. Inclusion in the voter lists at the place of registration can be checked through the website or the Call Center of the relevant akimat.

At the end of K. Petrov’s speech, the Resolution of the CEC of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On the organisation of work with voter lists for the extraordinary elections of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan scheduled for November 20, 2022” was adopted. The resolution of the Central Election Commission provides for a number of instructions to local executive bodies and territorial election commissions to organise work with voter lists.

2. Mukhtar Yerman, Secretary of the CEC of the Republic of Kazakhstan, made a report on the formation of the Linguistic Commission.

He informed that the establishment of free command of the state language of the candidates for the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan shall be determined by the conclusion of the linguistic commission, which includes linguists and other specialists of at least five people.

To establish fluency in the state language, a candidate for the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan is required to:

1) write an assignment on a topic proposed by the linguistic commission, no more than two pages;

2) read printed text proposed by the linguistic commission, no more than three pages;

3) publicly speak on a topic set by the linguistic commission for at least fifteen minutes.

The procedure for establishing a candidate’s fluency in the state language does not apply to the current President of the Republic, whose candidacy is re-nominated for the next term of office.

At the end of M. Yerman’s speech, the Resolution of the CEC of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On the formation of a linguistic commission to establish fluency in candidates for the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the state language” was adopted. In accordance with the Resolution, the linguistic commission included:

1.	Adil Akhmetov	Doctor of Philology, Professor, Honoured Worker of the Republic of Kazakhstan
2.	Garifolla Yessim	Doctor of Philosophy, Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan, writer, Abai scholar
3.	Zhanqara Dadebayev	Doctor of Philology, Professor, Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Member of the Union of Writers of Kazakhstan
4.	Gultas Kurmanbai	Head of the Department of Kazakh Language, Literature and Culture of the Nazarbayev University, Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, Professor
5.	Dikhan Kamzabekuly	Doctor of Philology, Professor, Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan, General Director of the Yegemen Kazakhstan newspaper
6.	Anar Fazylzhanova	Director of the Institute of Linguistics named after Akhmet Baitursynuly, Candidate of Philological Sciences

3. Member of the Central Election Commission Sabila Mustafina made a report on the third issue.

She said that the state guarantees equal allocation of funds for presidential candidates to speak with their programs in the media.

Thus, the law provides for the allocation of funds for a candidate to speak with programs in the media:

- on television – 15 minutes;

- on the radio – 10 minutes;

- for publications in printed periodicals or online publications of two articles, no more than 0.1 printed sheet.

The republican budget also covers the expenses of candidates for:

- holding public pre-election events;

- issue of campaign materials;

- transport expenses.

At the end of her speech, the Resolution of the CEC of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On establishing the amount of expenses of a candidate for the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, covered from the republican budget for the early elections of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan scheduled for November 20, 2022” was adopted, according to which the amount of expenses of a candidate for the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan was set at 10 312 600 KZT, for:

1. speeches with programs on television and radio, as well as the publication of 2 articles in print periodicals – 9,012,600 KZT;

2. holding public pre-election events and issuing campaign materials – 800,000 KZT;

3. transport expenses – 500,000 KZT.

4. Sabila Mustafina also spoke on the final issue of the meeting on the electoral fund of a presidential candidate.

She said that the electoral fund shall be formed from the following sources:

- the candidate’s own funds, funds allocated to the candidate by the republican public association that nominated him/her, the total amount of which shall not exceed the minimum wage established by law by more than 12,000 (twelve thousand) times, which is 720.0 million KZT.

- voluntary donations from citizens and organisations of the Republic, the total amount of which shall not exceed the amount of the minimum wage established by law by more than 15,000 (fifteen thousand) times, which is 900 million KZT.  

Funds received in excess of the established amount shall not be subject to allocation in election funds and shall be returned to the citizens and organisations that contributed them. Anonymous donations shall be turned into the income of the republican budget. Only legally obtained funds can be sent to election funds. The right to dispose of the funds of the electoral fund shall exclusively belong to candidates for the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan

The candidate from his/her election funds shall pay the following expenses:

1) to speak in any registered media;

2) to organise and conduct public pre-election events (pre-election meetings and meetings with voters, public pre-election debates and discussions, rallies, processions, demonstrations and other pre-election events);

3) for the production and distribution of printed, audiovisual and other campaign materials;

4) to pay for the services of legal entities and individuals in organising campaigning work;

5) to cover transport and travel expenses of candidates for the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan;

6) for the manufacture for free distribution of printed materials, including illustrative materials, as well as badges, flags, hand flags and other signs and symbols specially made for the election campaign.

Violation of the norms of the electoral legislation and the Rules for opening a special temporary account and spending funds from the electoral fund by a candidate shall entail the cancellation of the decision to register the candidate.

Following the meeting, a briefing was held for representatives of the media, at which members of the Central Election Commission answered questions from the media.