ASTANA – A total of 777 foreign observers from 42 countries and 13 international organizations have been accredited to monitor Kazakhstan’s Kurultai election, Central Election Commission (CEC) Secretary Mukhtar Yerman said on Aug. 18. The figure includes 138 members of parliaments from 41 countries.
According to the CEC, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs submitted 121 observer candidates from 18 countries and five international organizations for accreditation. The observers include representatives of the CIS Observer Mission, the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Turkic Academy.
National observers include representatives from Belgium, China, France, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Japan, Jordan, Mongolia, the Philippines, Serbia, Slovakia, Thailand, Türkiye, Turkmenistan, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Uzbekistan. CEC Chairman Nurlan Abdirov said the presence of foreign observers contributes to the campaign’s openness and transparency and demonstrates Kazakhstan’s continued cooperation with foreign states and international organizations in the electoral sphere.
Representatives of the central election bodies of 22 countries are also taking part, including 11 heads of election commissions, he said. The election will be the first nationwide vote under Kazakhstan’s new parliamentary model. Citizens will elect 145 members of the Kurultai, a new unicameral Parliament, through proportional representation in a single nationwide constituency.
Seven political parties are contesting the election. Parties must receive at least 5% of the vote to enter the legislature. The new system replaces the previous bicameral Parliament and removes single-member constituencies from national parliamentary elections. The vote will therefore provide an early indication of how the redesigned system affects party competition, political representation and the composition of the legislature.
The campaign has also placed greater emphasis on party platforms. Nationally televised debates have focused on areas including agriculture, social policy, economic development, environmental protection and the rule of law. Political observers have described the debates as a test of whether parties can present distinct policy positions and respond to public scrutiny.