Nurlan Abdirov visited the West Kazakhstan region

 

Chairman of the Central Election Commission Nurlan Abdirov continues inspection trips to the regions as part of the preparation and conduct of elections to the Mazhilis of the Parliament and the maslikhats of the republic.

On March 2-3, he visited the West Kazakhstan region, where he got acquainted with the work of territorial election commission, checked the readiness of polling stations and held a meeting with heads of regional structures of state bodies on preparations for the upcoming elections. The trip was also attended by member of the Central Election Commission Shavkhat Utemissov and senior officials of the CEC administration.

Nurlan Abdirov began the first day of his trip with a visit to precinct, regional and city district commissions in Uralsk, got acquainted with the organisation of the current election campaign.

Then the head of the Central Election Commission visited the precinct election and district commissions in the Baiterek district of the region.

Particular attention was paid to the readiness of polling stations for voting day and the creation of necessary conditions for citizens to vote, including for persons with disabilities and special needs.

In some polling stations, the CEC Chairman gave specific recommendations to members of polling station commissions on a more convenient arrangement of tables for members of commissions and places for representatives of public associations in the voting premises. He also drew attention of the members of the commissions to the importance of providing the necessary review for representatives of national and international observers, the media during the voting and the vote count procedure.

The head of the Central Election Commission also focused on the quality of the ballot boxes, stressing that the number of ballot papers will at least double in the upcoming elections, so this aspect is also important.

He also drew the attention of commission members to the mandatory knowledge of the rules of conduct at polling stations on voting day and stressed that all participants of the electoral process, including observers, proxies of candidates and the media, shall be familiar with the content of these rules from the moment they arrive at the voting premises.

At the polling stations, the head of the CEC was demonstrated the work of an online service for checking data at the place of registration of citizens on the Electronic Government Portal.

During the meetings, the CEC Chairman also asked members of district commissions about problematic issues they faced at the stages of nomination and registration of representative candidates in the current election campaign, explained all legislative novelties and features of this campaign, and also paid special attention to the need for continuous and high-quality training of all members of the commissions, which must be completed before the voting day by obtaining the appropriate certificate.

Nurlan Abdirov urged members of the commissions to be prepared for the fact that voters now have the right to revoke the mandate of representative members in connection with their failure to fulfil their election programs and promises. In such cases, according to the law, new elections shall be scheduled, so the work of territorial, district and precinct election commissions takes on a permanent character.

The second day of the trip began with a meeting chaired by Nurlan Abdirov with the participation of the heads of local executive bodies, the regional prosecutor’s office, the departments of police, labour and social protection of the population, territorial election commissions, representatives of the campaign headquarters of candidates, members of the long-term OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission Thomas Holzer (Switzerland) and Elena Balandina (Russian Federation), as well as representatives of the media.

In his opening speech, head of the Central Election Commission, Nurlan Abdirov, elaborated on the importance and features of the current election campaign, highlighted the novelties of the electoral legislation, spoke about the main results of the stages of nomination and registration of lists of political parties and single-seat candidates.

During the meeting, the CEC Chairman listened to reports on the work carried out in the region on voter lists, organisational, logistical support for elections, creating the necessary conditions for the physical accessibility of polling stations for citizens with disabilities, timely delivery of ballots to polling stations and other important issues.

Deputy akim of the region Bakytzhan Narymbetov informed the meeting participants about the readiness of the electoral infrastructure and issues of informing citizens.

In particular, he said that there are 689 election commissions in the region, 14 of which are territorial, 171 district and 504 precinct. The number of voters in the lists in the region amounted to 442,350 people.

To inform voters, the work of Call-centres has been organised, the Smart Uralsk mobile application has been developed, and a telegram bot is also functioning, where citizens can check themselves in the voter lists and get all necessary information.

He also noted that 541 places have been identified in the region for placing campaign printed materials and 262 rooms for meetings of candidates with voters.

The CEC chairman drew attention of the deputy akim of the region to the need to ensure conditions for citizens in case of adverse weather conditions on voting day (snow, ice, etc.), as well as uninterrupted heat and power supply to all polling stations.

Chairman of the territorial election commission of the West Kazakhstan Region, Gaissa Kapakov, said that over 200 election banners were installed in the region in order to inform citizens, more than 8,000 motivating posters were printed. For each resident included in the voter lists (442,350 people), personal invitations to the elections have been prepared, which will begin to be handed out from March 4.

Gaissa Kapakov reported that special attention in the logistics of polling stations was paid to persons with disabilities, which are 2182 in the region. Members of precinct election commissions established personal contacts with 493 wheelchair-bound people, 1336 with visual loss and 353 with hearing loss. Voting precincts are fully suited to their needs.

In addition to this topic, Alpamys Kushkinbayev, head of the regional department for the coordination of employment and social programmes, said that on voting day, people with visual impairments or complete loss of vision will be provided with audio versions of the procedure for filling out the ballot paper, listening to information on the elections, additional lighting and optical correction tools (magnifier).

Voters moving in wheelchairs will be provided with the convenience of booths for secret voting and movement, as well as the availability of familiarisation with information materials. Audio amplifiers and headphones will be installed for people with speech or hearing impairments.

Services of sign language interpreters are also provided, including online. On the election day, the Invataxi service will operate in the region without fail.

The CEC Chairman stressed that the bodies for coordinating employment and social protection need to pay special attention to persons with disabilities of categories 1 and 2, as well as to the elderly and prepare all the necessary conditions for them to vote.

Zhanbolat Zhanshin, First Deputy Head of the Police Department, reported on the measures taken to ensure law and order in the region on the voting day. He said that in order to ensure law and order and legality in the preparation and conduct of elections, the police personnel will be transferred to an enhanced version of service.

Addressing the representative of the Police Department, Nurlan Abdirov noted the inadmissibility of the presence of police officers at the polling stations on voting day without the invitation of the PEC chairman, and also instructed to ensure the protection of ballots.

Also within the framework of the meeting, the prosecutor of the region Serik Shalabayev spoke, who informed about the implementation of supervision over compliance with the law by all participants in the electoral process.

Closing the meeting, CEC Chairman Nurlan Abdirov called on all participants of the electoral process in the region to make every effort to conduct elections in strict accordance with the requirements of the law, openly and transparently.

As part of the meeting with members of territorial and precinct election commissions, a training session was held to prepare members of the commissions using the Voting Day business game. The purpose of training is the qualitative assimilation by the members of the election commissions of the entire voting procedure, the acquisition of practical skills in working with the list of citizens eligible to participate in elections, with absentee voting certificates, with oral and written appeals of citizens, and communicating with representatives of public associations.

After the two-day workshop-meeting, Nurlan Abdirov gave a number of specific instructions to chairmen of territorial election commissions on the information and technical equipment of polling stations, their accessibility and convenience for citizens, including for persons with disabilities, ensuring conditions for effective observation on election day. All these issues will be under the control of the Central Election Commission.