Brief information about electoral system of the RK

The Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan of 1995 indentified free elections as the fundamental principle for organization of the government and the people as the only source of state power and bearer of sovereignty. The Republic of Kazakhstan is a unitary state with a presidential form of government.

Democratic elections are competitive, periodic and representative elections, in which the citizens, having bread freedom, elect their representatives in the power structures on the alternative basis. Competitive elections guarantee that different political parties and candidates take part in elections. And all of them enjoy freedoms of speech, assembly, movement, all that is needed to ensure that their political views are heard and that they can present alternative candidates to voters. The legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan ensures the periodicity of elections, representative of various social groups in the government, openness and transparency of election authorities.

Article 33 of the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan guarantees the right to elect and to be elected in the state and local self-government bodies as well as to participate in the republican referendum to the citizens of the Republic, who reached the age of 18 years regardless of their origin, social, property status, occupation, sex, race, nationality, language, attitude towards religion, belief, place of residence or any other circumstances. The right to elect and be elected, to participate in the republican referendum does not extend to the citizens, who were judged as incapable by a court or who are held in places of confinement on a court’s sentence.

As a member of many prestigious international organizations Kazakhstan adheres to all of its obligations to conduct free and competitive elections. Elections of the Head of State and formation of Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan as well as local representative bodies are held in our country in conditions of openness and transparency in compliance with national legislation and universally recognized principles for democratic elections, stipulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966), European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (Protocol No. 1, 1952), Document of the Copenhagen Meeting of the Conference on the Human Dimension of the OSCE (1990).

The right to elect and to be elected is regulated by the Constitutional Act “On Elections in the Republic of Kazakhstan”, adopted in September 1995.