Kazakhstan Votes in Presidential Election

Astana, November 20, 2022 – Voting has begun today in a presidential election in Kazakhstan. A total of 10, 101 polling stations across the country, including 68 polling stations at 53 diplomatic missions of Kazakhstan around the world, are operating with voting taking place between 07:00 and 20:00 local time, although several of them opened at 06:00. Approximately 11.8 million citizens of Kazakhstan are eligible to vote.

Six candidates are participating in the election, including incumbent President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, and representatives of political parties and associations. Two female candidates are running in the election for the first time in Kazakhstan’s history. An option “against all” is included on the ballots.

Preliminary election results are expected to be announced on November 21-22. Three public institutions are conducting an exit poll.

Speaking previously about the significance of the election, Mukhtar Tileuberdi, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, said: “The election offers our voters an opportunity to reflect on three years of President Tokayev’s presidency and to consider whether the people support the vision of a just and fair Kazakhstan.”

Kazakh officials have on numerous occasions emphasized that the government is determined that the election will be open, transparent, and fair. In this regard, 641 observers from international organisations and foreign states have been accredited by the Central Election Commission (CEC), including the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). In addition, a total of 254 foreign journalists have been accredited to cover the election.

Commenting on the participation of observers, Nurlan Abdirov, Chairman of the CEC, said: “We place great importance on the presence of missions of international organisations that take part in observing the early presidential election.”

This will be the seventh presidential election held in Kazakhstan since its independence in 1991. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev first announced his proposal to hold an early presidential election in his state-of-the-nation address on September 1, 2022. He explained that “for the successful implementation of radical and comprehensive reforms aimed at building a Just Kazakhstan, a new mandate of trust of the people is required.” He signed a Decree calling for the early election on September 21.

In line with the initiative of President Tokayev, which was approved by Kazakhstan’s parliament on September 16, the elected head of state will serve a 7-year term without the right to re-election (previously two 5-year terms). This rule will remain unchanged and cannot be revised.

The initiatives to hold the presidential election and to limit the presidential term to a single seven-year period form part of large-scale reforms and constitutional amendments that have been implemented in Kazakhstan since the start of this year, including redistribution of several powers from the President to the Parliament, establishment of the Constitutional Court, simplification of registering new political parties, direct election of rural akims (mayors), as well as other political and socio-economic initiatives. The reforms were put to a national referendum on June 5 this year, with over 77% of voters backing the reforms.