2007 Kazakh legislative election

Legislative elections were held in Kazakhstan on 18 August 2007. President Nursultan Nazarbayev's Nur Otan party received 88% of the vote and won all of the available seats. None of the six other parties contesting the election passed the 7% threshold to win seats.[1][2]

2007 Kazakh legislative election

18 August 2007
All 107 seats in the Mazhilis 54 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	68.4%
Majority party Minority party   Leader Nursultan Nazarbayev Alikhan Baimenov Party Nur Otan Ak Zhol Leader since 1 March 1999 13 March 2005 Last election 57 seats[lower-alpha 1] 1 seat Seats won 98 0 Seat change 41 1 Popular vote 5,247,720 183,346 Percentage 88.4% 3.1%
Chairman before election Oral Muhamedjanov Nur Otan Elected Chairman Aslan Musin Nur Otan

Background

On 19 June 2007, 50 out of 77 members of Mazhilis voted to request President Nursultan Nazarbayev for it to be dissolved after a ruling by the Constitutional Council from 18 June that the Mazhilis can dissolve itself only with the permission of the president despite the Kazakh Constitution allowing the parliament to do so in a "vote of no-confidence". Nazarbayev accepted the request that same day and the Mazhilis was officially dissolved on 20 June. The move was criticized by several prominent opposition activists such as Chairman of JUDSP, Zharmakhan Tuyakbay, who claimed that the a snap election gave little time to prepare for the polling day.[3]

Electoral system

A total of 107 seats were at stake in the Majilis, an increase of 30, following constitutional amendments earlier in the year.[4] Under the changes, 98 deputies were elected by party lists, an increase from just 10 in the previous parliament. The remaining nine seats were reserved for members elected by the Assembly of People of Kazakhstan.[5]

Conduct

The opposition Nationwide Social Democratic Party, which received almost 5% of the vote, denounced the election,[1] and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe observers said the election showed some progress, but was also marred by problems, saying that "in over 40 percent of the polling stations visited, [vote counting] was described as bad or very bad", which was worse than in the last parliamentary and presidential elections.[1] Bias in the state media was also considered a problem.

Results

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Nur Otan	5,247,720	88.4	98	+41
	Nationwide Social Democratic Party	269,310	4.5	0	New
	Democratic Party of Kazakhstan Ak Zhol	183,346	3.1	0	–1
	Kazakhstani Social Democratic Party Auyl	89,855	1.5	0	0
	Communist People's Party	76,799	1.3	0	0
	Party of Patriots	46,436	0.8	0	0
	Rukhaniyat Party	22,159	0.4	0	0
Invalid/blank votes		146,805	–	–	–
Total		6,082,430	100	98	0
Registered voters/turnout		8,891,561	68.4	–	–
Source: Adam Carr, IPU

Notes

1. In the 2004 elections, Otan won 42 seats, an alliance of the Agrarian Party and Civic Party won 11 seats and Asar won four seats. The parties merged to form Nur Otan in 2006.

References

1. Party of Kazakh President Sweeps Seats in Parliament The New York Times, 20 August 2007
2. Kazakh poll gives all seats to Nazarbayev Archived 2007-09-30 at the Wayback Machine Reuters, 20 August 2007
3. "Kazakh President Dissolves Parliament". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. Retrieved 2020-05-01.
4. Kazakhstan set to hold early poll BBC News, 20 June 2007
5. Kazakhstan's political parties gear up for early elections Archived 2014-03-04 at the Wayback Machine EurasiaNet, 20 June 2007

External links

• Elections of the Majilis 2007 Central Election Commission