Daily Times

Elections to the Mazhilis (the lower chamber of the Kazakh Parliament) and the maslikhats (local administrative bodies) will take place on March 19 this year. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev dissolved the parliament chamber and terminated the powers of the maslikhats on January 19, when he announced the date of the elections. In his statement, President Tokayev said: “The holding of early elections to the Mazhilis and maslikhats is dictated by the logic of the constitutional reform, supported by citizens at the national referendum. According to its results, our country moved to new, fairer, and more competitive rules of formation of the representative branches of power.” President Tokayev first proposed holding elections to the Mazhilis and maslikhats in his Address to the Nation on September 1 last year. Thanks to the constitutional reforms implemented last year in Kazakhstan, registering political parties has become significantly easier. For example, the registration threshold has been reduced fourfold from 20,000 to 5,000 members. The minimum requirement for the number of regional party representations was also reduced from 600 to 200 people. As a result, several new political parties have registered before the upcoming election. Overall, seven parties are now registered in the country, including: Ak Zhol Democratic Party of Kazakhstan; Amanat party; Auyl People’s Democratic Patriotic Party; Baitak Party; National Social Democratic Party; People’s Party of Kazakhstan and Respublica Party. President Tokayev first proposed holding elections to the Mazhilis and maslikhats in his Address to the Nation in September last year. As such, the period from this announcement to the voting day will be more than six months.