The Central Election Commission considered the issues of accreditation 

of international observers and its results, as well as the organisation of work 

of online services on voter lists

On November 14 this year, a meeting of the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Kazakhstan was held under the chairmanship of Nurlan Abdirov. 

The following issues were considered at the meeting: 

1. “On the withdrawal of accreditation of an observer of an international organisation for the early elections of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, scheduled for November 20, 2022”; 

2. “On the accreditation of observers of international organisations and foreign states for the early elections of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan scheduled for November 20, 2022”; 

3. “On the implementation of an online service for checking information at the place of registration of citizens on the e-government portal and on the registration of citizens at the addresses of polling stations for the early elections of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan scheduled for November 20, 2022”; 

4. “On the results of accreditation of observers of international organisations and foreign states for the early elections of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, scheduled for November 20, 2022.” 

Mukhtar Yerman, Secretary of the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Kazakhstan, spoke on the first and second issues on the agenda. He said that based on the applications of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, on the proposal of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the issue of revoking the accreditation of two international observers was raised. 

In this regard, the resolutions of the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Kazakhstan No. 103/594 and No. 105/598 “On the accreditation of observers of international organisations and foreign states for the early elections of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan scheduled for November 20, 2022” were amended accordingly. 

As part of the second issue, Mukhtar Yerman informed that in the period from November 9 to 14, proposals from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan for accreditation of observers from 7 missions and 23 foreign states, including the diplomatic corps, continue to be received. 

A report on the implementation of online services for checking information at the place of registration of citizens on the e-government portal and registering citizens at the addresses of polling stations was made by Deputy Chairman of the CEC of the Republic of Kazakhstan Konstantin Petrov. 

He informed that in accordance with the Constitutional Act “On Elections in the Republic of Kazakhstan,” citizens of the Republic with active suffrage are included in the voter list. The basis for including a citizen in the voter list at a particular polling station is the fact of their registration at the place of residence on the territory of this polling station. 

In order to largely inform citizens about the procedure for inclusion in the voter lists, the Central Election Commission published an Announcement to voters, and also developed an explanation poster that is posted in the media (television, radio, Internet resources and print publications). 

In all regions of the country, local executive bodies have organised the work of more than 200 Call-centres and online services for checking oneself in the voter lists. Almost 195,000 appeals were received, including on issues of inclusion in the voter lists. 

According to operational information of local executive bodies, on the basis of written applications of citizens for inclusion in the lists at the location, more than 80 thousand citizens, including those with temporary registration, were included. 

According to past election campaigns, often citizens do not take timely measures to check themselves in the voter lists. 

The Central Election Commission, together with the Ministry of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry, has worked out the issue of checking information by election commissions at the place of registration of citizens on the e-government portal through an online service. The draft joint regulation of the Central Election Commission and the Ministry of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry provides the approval of an algorithm for verifying information at the place of registration of citizens on the e-government portal in the presidential elections of the Republic of Kazakhstan on November 20, 2022.  

In connection with the above, the Central Election Commission instructed the local executive bodies of regions, cities of republican significance and the capital, together with the relevant territorial election commissions, to determine polling stations and members of election commissions by November 15, 2022 in order to gain access to the online service in the prescribed manner. Ministry of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan together with NIT JSC to implement an online service for checking information at the place of registration of citizens on the e-government portal. 

In conclusion, Konstantin Petrov said that in order to exercise the right to vote, registration of persons deregistered at the place of residence on the basis of an application from the owner of a housing, building or a premise is allowed on election day in the building or premise at the address of the polling station. 

In this regard, a joint regulatory act of the Central Election Commission, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan was adopted, which provides the approval of the algorithm for registering citizens at the addresses of polling stations in the early elections of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan scheduled for November 20, 2022. 

This service will be implemented in 181 polling stations and will be available only to those voters who are not included in the voter lists in any polling station in the country and do not have a valid residence registration. 

When adopting a joint act, the CEC members also discussed the need to inform about the results of using the online service after voting day. 

“Digital documents are in great demand among citizens. They are analogous to the original document. Therefore, citizens have the right to present an electronic version of the original document proving the identity of the voter. Members of the election commission, based on the voter lists, upon presentation of a digital document, shall issue a ballot to the voter. We applied this practice during the period of the republican referendum. During preparation for the presidential elections, the members of precinct election commissions were additionally trained to check the authenticity of the document,” Chairman of the CEC of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nurlan Abdirov said. 

Secretary of the Central Election Commission Mukhtar Yerman informed about the results of the accreditation of observers of international organisations and foreign states for the early elections of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, scheduled for November 20, 2022. He said that the accreditation of observers of foreign states and international organisations began on September 22 and ended at 18:00 on November 14, 2022. 

Thus, 641 observers will participate in the observation of the early elections of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, including 532 observers from 10 international organisations and 109 observers from 35 foreign states. 

“I would like to emphasise once again that the presence of international observers contributes to the openness and publicity of the campaign, the observance of international obligations by the state. And this is a confirmation of our commitment to international obligations, as well as the continuation of close cooperation with international organisations, foreign states in the electoral area,” Nurlan Abdirov, Chairman of the CEC of the Republic of Kazakhstan said, summing up the fourth issue on the agenda. 

As part of the meeting, the Head of the CEC announced that as of November 14, 2022, 7 legal entities duly notified the CEC of conducting public opinion polls: 

1. Public Opinion Research Institute (“Kogamdyk pikir” zertteu instituty); 

2. AMANAT Party Institute of Public Policy; 

3. Youth Research Centre; 

4. Institute of Comprehensive Social Research – SOCIS-A Astana PF Institute of Comprehensive Social Research; 

5. Institute of Democracy Scientific Research Association; 

6. DAMU RG Research Group; 

7. Open Society International Institute for Regional Studies. 

Nurlan Abdirov also reminded that it is not allowed to publish election-related studies on the Internet within five days before the voting day and on the voting day. Thus, November 14 is the final day of the publication of the poll results. From November 15, publication, as well as reprinting information about the results of public opinion polls, is prohibited. 

Based on the results of the agenda items, the relevant resolutions of the CEC of the Republic of Kazakhstan were adopted. The meeting was followed by a briefing for media representatives.