ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s transition to a single-chamber legislature entered a new stage Aug. 23 as voters went to the polls to elect the country’s first Kurultai, with international observers monitoring the process. During an Aug. 23 press briefing on the Kurultai election, observers from various international organizations shared their assessments of the voting process.
Photo credit: The Astana Times/Nargiz Raimbekova The election is part of a broader effort to modernize Kazakhstan’s political institutions and strengthen their ability to respond to the country’s changing social and economic landscape, Deputy Foreign Minister Arman Issetov said during an Aug.
22 briefing with foreign media. He noted that Kazakhstan is pursuing political reform not because it is facing a crisis, but because the country is developing and its institutions should be prepared for the next stage of that development. “We expect that the new political system will help maintain stability and continuity while ensuring the further development of state institutions.
It should also provide more effective representation of public interests and improve the quality of decision-making,” Issetov said. He also linked the reforms to the country’s economic development, saying a more complex economy requires more effective state institutions, predictable legislation and high-quality public administration.
“The more diverse society becomes, the more important it is to have mechanisms that allow for the various public interests to be taken into account. This is one of the main reasons behind the current constitutional reform,” Issetov said. “It is not aimed at changing for the sake of change.
Its objective is to bring political institutions in line with modern Kazakhstan and prepare them for the next stage of the country’s development,” he said. The election has drawn international attention, with observers from foreign countries and organizations monitoring the electoral process, visiting polling stations and meeting with election officials and political parties.
Their assessments offer an international perspective on how the new political system is taking shape in practice. According to SCO Deputy Secretary-General T.R. Midhun, voting was well organized and polling stations were fully prepared. The SCO Deputy Secretary-General T.R.
Midhun. Photo credit: The Astana Times/Nargiz Raimbekova “We went to the polling stations when they opened. We saw the procedures and the queues of people who were willing to participate in the election. It was early morning, and people were still very keen to start as early as possible,” he said.