Members of the Central Election Commission visited Karaganda and 

Atyrau regions on a working trip

As part of the organisation and conduct of early elections of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, members of the CEC of the Republic of Kazakhstan completed a series of field workshop-meetings held in all regions of the country. 

On November 16 this year, CEC Deputy Chairman Konstantin Petrov and CEC member Sabila Mustafina visited Karaganda region, CEC member Shavkhat Utemissov visited Atyrau region on November 15-16. 

In the regions, members of the Central Election Commission held workshop-meetings for members of territorial and precinct election commissions, representatives of local executive bodies, campaign headquarters of candidates, authorised state bodies, law enforcement agencies and the media. 

Within the workshop, members of the territorial election commissions and representatives of local executive bodies briefed the members of the Central Election Commission on the course of preparatory work for the election of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan. 

According to head of the akim’s office of the Karaganda region Daulat Yeshkeyev and chairman of the regional TEC Kairat Nurkenov, the number of voters in the region is 768,778 people. There are 642 polling stations in the region. All polling stations are ready for work, provided with uninterrupted communications, electricity, and necessary equipment. 

To increase the electoral activity of the population, call centres and hotlines have been created in all akimats of the region to check citizens on the voter lists. There is also a round-the-clock “Senim 109” unified dispatch service in the region. There is a special website sailau09.kz, where each user can find their polling station through the IIN or ID number. Push notifications have been implemented in the Damumed application of medical organisations to inform about elections and the opportunity to check oneself in the voter lists. 

To prepare the participants of the electoral process for the electoral period, 360 members of the commission were gradually trained on the basis of the branch of the Academy of Public Administration at the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the Karaganda region. Further, training continued in a cascade method for lower-level members of election commissions. 

All conditions of a barrier-free environment for citizens with disabilities have been created at the polling stations. All 642 stations are located on the first floors. Most stations are equipped with ramps, tactile signs, flooring. It is planned to have sign language specialists on duty at the polling stations. On election day, the Invataxi service will be provided to transport people with disabilities to polling stations. A total of 38 vehicles will be involved.  

Bolat Issakov, head of the Atyrau regional akim’s office, said that 261 polling stations would operate in the region on voting day. The number of voters with disabilities who require special conditions for voting is 1,959. A number of works have been carried out in the region to create conditions for voters with disabilities. At the regular meeting of the regional Coordinating Council for the Affairs of Persons with Disabilities, issues of equipping polling stations for persons with disabilities were considered, at which reports of the regional territorial election commission and akims of cities and districts in this area spoke. Moreover, members of the Coordinating Council, together with representatives of public associations and authorised bodies, checked the readiness of polling stations for the election campaign. Thus, all polling stations are provided with ramps and tactile strips, special areas and other necessary equipment. On Election Day, 52 invataxi will be involved for people with disabilities moving in wheelchairs. 

He also said that on the basis of the H. Dosmukhamedov Atyrau State University, the Centre for Assistance to International Observers and Media Representatives was opened. The main purpose of the centre is to provide information to international observers and media representatives about the region, provide them with office equipment, assist in connecting to the Internet and providing translation services. The centre employs 6 volunteers who provide services in English, German, French. To date, 3 long-term international observers (2 from the OSCE, 1 – the CIS), who arrived in the Atyrau region, got acquainted with the work of the centre. 

Training workshops were organised for members of election commissions from October 3 to October 28, 2022, training by the cascade method covered all 1966 commission members. During this period, 377 workshops were held for representatives of election commissions, public associations, voters with disabilities, youth representatives, police, government agencies. 

A search service and Telegram bot were launched on the official website of the Akimat of the Atyrau region to search for citizens in the voter lists. To determine the address of registration of citizens, together with the Ministry of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan, service centres have been also opened in cities and regions at 165 polling stations. The work of 8 Call-centres and a single contact number 109 has been organised in the region, by which citizens are provided with reference information and advisory assistance. 

Active information and explanatory work is being carried out in the region to inform citizens about the elections of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Extensive information work is being carried out on regional television, Internet resources, print media, and social networks. Moreover, video clips about the elections are regularly broadcast on demonstration screens in crowded places. 

In the second part of the program of workshop-meetings, CEC members conducted trainings in the form of a business game based on case technology for territorial and precinct election commissions. 

Thus, the practical skills of members of election commissions were tested on the algorithm of actions on voting day, including preparing a polling station for voting day, issuing ballots, accompanying ballot boxes for voting outside the premises, the algorithm for counting votes, drawing up protocols on the results of voting, etc. Other CEC members asked clarifying questions about the algorithm of actions of members of election commissions and reminded them that the main task in organising the voting procedure is to ensure its transparency. 

At the end of workshop-meetings, the members of the Central Election Commission developed proposals to improve the efficiency of the activities of election commissions.