Kazakhstan Ruling Party Wins Every Contested Seat in Parliamentary Election
By Daniel Hollingsworth
August 20, 2007 | Printer Friendly

The BBC reports that opposition parties and international observers have challenged the official results from the August 18 parliamentary election in Kazakhstan, which indicate a sweep for the Nur-Otan party of President Nursultan Nazarbayev.  Nur-Otan received 88 percent of the vote, while no other party reached the 7 percent threshold required for parliamentary representation, giving Nur-Otan all 98 of the elected seats in the lower house Kazakhstan’s parliament.

The political opposition in Kazakhstan has disputed both the validity of the results and the underlying fairness of the electoral process.  According to the BBC, Burikhan Nurmukhamedov, the leader of the Ak Zhol party which officially received 3.25 percent of the vote, contends that it actually won 12 percent, which would allow it to participate in parliament.  He told the Russian news agency Interfax, “The outcome absolutely does not reflect the actual alignment of political forces and the social support they draw.” 

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) provided a mixed review of the election.  In a press release, it voiced concern regarding the transparency of the vote, writing that “the vote count was assessed negatively in over 40 per cent of polling stations visited, mainly due to procedural problems and lack of transparency.”  OSCE was also critical of the “high threshold for representation in the parliament, provisions that parties choose only after the elections which candidates become members of parliament and undue limitations on the right to seek public office.” 

However, despite these concerns, the OSCE emphasized signs of progress in the election.  Senator Consiglio Di Nino of Canada, the leader of the OSCE’s parliamentary delegation, stated that “Not withstanding the concerns contained in the report, I believe that these elections continue to move Kazakhstan forward in its evolution towards a democratic country.”  The press release continues, “In the pre-election period, candidates enjoyed increased ability to convey their messages to voters. Candidate list registration was inclusive. The Central Election Commission worked transparently and adopted numerous decisions to regulate the election process and conducted extensive voter education.”  The OSCE reaction is seen as especially important, as President Nazarbayev has been actively lobbying for the OSCE chairmanship in 2009.  The Washington Post writes that “the monitors' statement appeared to give Nazarbayev a boost in his campaign for Kazakhstan to chair the OSCE.”

The BBC reports more negatively on the proceedings, writing that “there had been hope that things would be different this time if only because of Mr Nazarbayev's ambition to turn his country into a serious international player.”  However, some analysts say that Kazakhstan’s oil wealth is the major impediment to greater progress on democratization.  Sergei Panarin, an analyst at the Institute of Oriental Studies in Moscow, told the Washington Post that as long as Kazakhstan is “flush with petrodollars,” it is unlikely to follow the model of Ukraine or Georgia in which “disputed election results have catalyzed popular opposition movements that brought to office leaders who have more pro-Western outlooks.”

References:

OSCE Press Release: Kazakh elections: progress and problems

BBC: Kazakh poll fairness questioned

Washington Post: Ruling Party Sweeps Kazakhstan Election, Official Count Shows