The country’s largest Amanat party, which supports President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, is leading the parliamentary elections in Kazakhstan.
According to the exit poll of the Institute of Eurasian Integration, she is gaining more than 53% of the vote. Five more parties enter the parliament, which fight each other, but, as a rule, do not criticize Tokayev. The results of the vote count will be announced later.
The voter turnout was about 54%. In Almaty, the country’s largest city, only a quarter of voters came to the polling stations.
The Amanat party, formerly known as Nur Otan, was founded by the first president of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, and supported his policies and later those of his successor Tokayev. After mass protests and riots last January, when a series of reforms took place in the country, and Nazarbayev lost much political influence, the party was renamed Amanat, and Tokayev left it in order to formally distance himself from all political forces. The party, however, is still pro-presidential.
According to Radio Azattyk, independent observers reported numerous violations: members of election commissions restrict the movement of observers at polling stations and prohibit them from filming video. There are reports of so-called carousels and ballot stuffing; The authorities acknowledged some of these facts and announced the dismissal of employees of several election commissions.
In Astana, on election day, several activists were detained for attempting to stage protests. Civil activist Galiya Tamabaeva, in particular, demanded an international investigation into the bloody events of January 2022, calling for “Tokaev to be sent to the Hague court, like Putin.”
The vote in Kazakhstan follows a June referendum on amendments to the constitution, as well as presidential elections, in which Kassym-Jomart Tokayev was re-elected for a new seven-year term. This is the first parliamentary elections since 2004 with the participation of non-partisan candidates. 29 out of 98 seats will be occupied by single-mandate candidates, 69 will be elected from party lists.
Not a single election in Kazakhstan since the republic gained independence more than 30 years ago has been recognized by Western observers as free and fair, Radio Azattyk notes.
