Kazakhstan’s Referendum on Adoption of Amendments to the Constitution Declared Valid with 68.44% Turnout as Polling Stations Close

Nur-Sultan, 5 June 2022 – Kazakhstan’s Central Referendum Commission has announced the preliminary turnout of the nationwide referendum on the adoption of amendments and additions to the Constitution of Kazakhstan after polls closed at 20:00 local time.

“A total of 11,734,642 citizens across the country were included on the lists of those entitled to participate in the nationwide referendum. Ballots were received by 8,030,739 citizens, which is 68.44% of the number included in the lists for voting,” Mukhtar Yerman, Secretary of the Central Referendum Commission said at a briefing for the media held in Nur-Sultan at 10pm.

[These tallies do not yet include those from 42 polling stations still open abroad at the time of publication.]

To facilitate the voting, 10,012 polling stations were operating across the country, including 65 in Kazakhstan’s overseas missions in 52 countries.

The Central Referendum Commission added it would publish early official results before noon on 6 June. Exit polls data could be announced after midnight, in line with Kazakhstan’s law that prohibits its publication on the day of the vote.

Casting his vote earlier today, Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said that big changes await the people of Kazakhstan. “The paradigm of relations between the state and society is changing; human rights are coming to the fore. This is extremely important,” the President noted. He added that the referendum would ensure that the unrest that took place in Kazakhstan in January would not be repeated, stating “we have drawn the appropriate conclusions.”

272 international observers monitored the referendum, including from 10 international organisations, such as the Commonwealth of Independent States and its Interparliamentary Assembly, Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Organization of Turkic States, Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic Speaking Countries, International Turkic Academy, Conference for Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia, as well as OSCE/ODIHR.

This was the first referendum in Kazakhstan since 1995, when the Constitution was adopted. If approved, the changes would impact one third of it (33 articles), curbing some of the President’s competences and strengthening those of the Parliament and local authorities, as well the human rights protection mechanisms.