2019 Kazakh presidential election

Early presidential elections were held in Kazakhstan on 9 June 2019 following the resignation of long-term president Nursultan Nazarbayev.[1] Originally scheduled for 2020, seven candidates were registered to participate in the elections, including incumbent president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who had assumed the presidency three months before the elections following the resignation of Nazarbayev. Tokayev was subsequently re-elected with 71% of the vote. His closest challenger, Amirjan Qosanov of the Ult Tagdyry party, received 16%.

2019 Kazakh presidential election
9 June 2019
Turnout77.54% 17.67 pp
 
Nominee Kassym-Jomart Tokayev Amirjan Qosanov Dania Espaeva
Party Nur Otan Ult Tagdyry Ak Zhol
Popular vote 6,539,715 1,495,401 465,714
Percentage 70.96% 16.23% 5.05%
Results by region
President before election

Kassym-Jomart Tokayev
Nur Otan

 Elected President

Kassym-Jomart Tokayev
Nur Otan

Kazakhstan
This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
Kazakhstan

CIS Member State

On 12 June, Tokayev took the oath of office during a ceremony at the Palace of Independence in the capital, Nur-Sultan.[2]

Background

Nursultan Nazarbayev was elected for a 5th term as president in the 2015 elections. He was widely expected to run again in 2020, but resigned in March 2019, stating that Senate Chair Kassym-Jomart Tokayev would take over as president for the remainder of his term.[3] However, on 9 April, Tokayev announced that a snap election would be held on 9 June to avoid "political uncertainty".[1] Some talks arose that Nazarbayev's daughter, Dariga, who succeeded Tokayev as the Chair of the Senate, was expected to run in the election as a way to ensure her father's legacy.[4] However, Dariga stated that she had no plans in joining the race.[5] On 23 April, backed by former President Nazarbayev himself, Tokayev was nominated by the ruling party Nur Otan to be its candidate for the election and became registered on 3 May, putting the rumors of Dariga's possible candidacy aside.[6][7]

Electoral system

The President of Kazakhstan is elected using the two-round system; if no candidate receives a majority of the vote in the first round, a second round is held between the top two candidates.[8]

Candidates

Nine candidates applied to the Central Election Commission to contest the elections. A record seven were registered to run, whilst one candidate withdrew and one was disqualified for not possessing sufficient knowledge of the Kazakh language.[9]

Registered candidates


Candidate,
political party		 Political party Occupation Registration date
Jambyl Ahmetbekov QKHP Member of the Mazhilis
(2012–present)		 6 May 2019[10]
Dania Espaeva Ak Zhol Member of the Mazhilis
(2016–present)		 4 May 2019[11]
Amirjan Qosanov Ult Tagdyry Journalist 6 May 2019[12]
Toleutai Rahymbekov Auyl Chairman of the Board of the
National Agrarian Scientific and Educational Center		 6 May 2019[13]
Amangeldi Taspihov Federation of Trade Unions
of Kazakhstan		 Chairman of the Territorial Association
of Trade Unions of West Kazakhstan Region
Member of the Mazhilis
(2004–2007)		 4 May 2019[14]
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev Nur Otan President of Kazakhstan
(2019–present)
Chairman of the Senate of Kazakhstan
(2007–2011 and 2013–2019)
Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva
(2011–2013)
Minister of Foreign Affairs
(2002–2007)
Prime Minister of Kazakhstan
(1999–2002)		 3 May 2019[15]
Sadybek Tugel
 Uly Dala Kyrandary First Vice President of the
Association of National Sports of Kazakhstan
President of the
Equestrian Federation of Kazakhstan		 3 May 2019[14]

Unsuccessful nominees
  • Talgat Yergaliyev (Union of Builders of Kazakhstan), a former Member of the Mazhilis.[16][17] Withdrew his candidacy.
  • Jumatai Aliyev (Halyk Demografiyasy), Rector of Central Asian University.[18][19] Rejected due to a failed Kazakh language test.[9]

Campaign

Kassym-Jomart Tokayev

Tokayev became an acting president after Nazarbayev resigned from office on 20 March 2019. As a result, early elections were announced on 9 April. He was nominated by the Nur Otan on 23 April to be a presidential candidate and became registered on 3 May. Tokayev sought for continuation of Nazarbayev's policies in strengthening the nation, continuing peace, improving lives of citizens, and entering Kazakhstan into the top 30 most developed nations.[20]

Tokayev was mocked on social media for the overuse of modification of his official photos, erasing his wrinkles and double chin.[21][22][23]

Amirjan Qosanov

Qosanov became a registered candidate on 6 May 2019 of the Ult Tagdyry party, existing since 2005. He ran on a platform in fighting against corruption, reducing the powers of a president, allowing direct elections of akims, making Kazakh economy less dependent on raw resources, and prohibiting the construction of nuclear power plants.[24]

Dania Espaeva

On 24 April 2019, Espaeva was nominated to be a presidential candidate for the Ak Zhol party. She became registered on 3 May, making her the first female in Kazakhstan's history to be on a ballot.[25]

Debates

On 14 May 2019, a televised debate was announced between the candidates.[26] It was held on 29 May and was broadcast live on the Khabar TV channel.[27] The cost of the event amounted to 41 million tenge.[28]

Four presidential candidates: Jambyl Ahmetbekov, Amirjan Qosanov, Amangeldy Taspihov and Sadybek Tugel participated in the debates and the rest of the three candidates were represented by Azat Peruashev for Dania Espaeva, Ali Bektaev for Toleutai Rahymbekov, and Mäulen Äşimbaev for Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.[29] The debate was divided into three rounds. In the first round, all participants were asked about the development of the education system in Kazakhstan, in the second round about social modernization of Kazakhstan, and in the third round, the candidates were allowed to ask questions to two other participants in the debate.[30]

Protests
Kazakh protesters facing off against riot police in Almaty, 9 June 2019

Protests broke out on 9–10 June in the cities of Nur-Sultan and Almaty. The protest itself was organized by a banned opposition group the Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan which is led by a former, now-exiled Kazakh banker Mukhtar Ablyazov. The protesters claimed that the election was "not free and fair".[31] It is estimated the around 5,000 demonstrators, journalists and activists were detained by the police.[32] The event was the first time that Kazakhstan faced protests during the elections.

The election was criticized by the OSCE, saying there were no democratic standards, with peaceful protesters being detained and the reported cases of ballot box stuffing.[33]

Results
Candidate Party Votes %
Kassym-Jomart TokayevNur Otan6,539,71570.96
Amirjan QosanovUlt Tagdyry1,495,40116.23
Dania EspaevaAk Zhol465,7145.05
Toleutai RahymbekovAuyl280,4513.04
Amangeldi TaspihovFederation of Trade Unions182,8981.98
Jambyl AhmetbekovCommunist People's Party167,6491.82
Sadybek TugelUly Dala Kyrandary84,5820.92
Invalid/blank votes57,700–
Total9,274,110 100
Registered voters/turnout11,960,36477.54
Source: CEC
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References
  1. Kazakhstan to hold early presidential election on June 9 Archived 2019-04-09 at the Wayback Machine Al Jazeera, 9 April 2019
  2. Toqaev Inaugurated As Kazakh President Amid Protests
  3. Kazakh leader Nazarbayev resigns after three decades Archived 2019-03-19 at the Wayback Machine BBC News, 19 March 2019
  4. ""Под контролем елбасы, пока он дееспособен". Эксперты – о том, кому нужны досрочные выборы президента Казахстана". Настоящее Время (in Russian). Retrieved 2020-05-05.
  5. "Дочь Назарбаева отказалась участвовать в президентских выборах". РБК (in Russian). 2019-04-09. Retrieved 2020-05-05.
  6. "Kazakh ruling party nominates Tokayev for presidency". www.aljazeera.com. 2019-04-23. Retrieved 2020-05-05.
  7. "Касым-Жомарт Токаев зарегистрирован кандидатом в президенты РК - Новости Казахстана и мира на сегодня". 24.kz (in Russian). 2019-05-03. Retrieved 2020-05-05.
  8. Republic of Kazakhstan: Election for President Archived 2019-03-27 at the Wayback Machine IFES
  9. Kazakhstan: Election candidate dropped for poor Kazakh skills Archived 2019-05-03 at the Wayback Machine Eurasia Net, 2 May 2019
  10. О регистрации Ахметбекова Жамбыла Аужановича кандидатом в Президенты Республики Казахстан на внеочередных выборах Президента Республики Казахстан, назначенных на 9 июня 2019 года
  11. О регистрации Еспаевой Дании Мадиевны кандидатом в Президенты Республики Казахстан
  12. О регистрации Косанова Амиржана Сагидрахмановича кандидатом в Президенты Республики Казахстан
  13. О регистрации Рахимбекова Толеутая Сатаевича кандидатом в Президенты Республики Казахстан и аккредитации наблюдателей международных организаций
  14. О регистрации Сәді-Бек Түгел кандидатом в Президенты Республики Казахстан
  15. О регистрации Қасым-Жомарт Кемелұлы Тоқаева кандидатом в Президенты Республики Казахстан
  16. ИНФОРМАЦИОННОЕ СООБЩЕНИЕ. Ергалиев Т.Ф.
  17. ИНФОРМАЦИОННОЕ СООБЩЕНИЕ о снятии кандидата Т. Ергалиева
  18. ИНФОРМАЦИОННОЕ СООБЩЕНИЕ. Алиев Ж.
  19. "Об отказе Алиеву Жуматаю в регистрации кандидатом в Президенты Республики Казахстан". Archived from the original on 2019-05-03. Retrieved 2019-05-03.
  20. https://astanatimes.com/2019/05/incumbent-president-tokayev-campaigns-on-platform-of-continuity-justice-and-progress/
  21. "Le président du Kazakhstan devrait sans doute se calmer sur le Photoshop". Archived from the original on 2019-05-12. Retrieved 2019-06-09.
  22. "Le président kazakh abuse de la retouche photo, et c'est ridicule". Archived from the original on 2019-05-08. Retrieved 2019-06-09.
  23. "Kazakhstan Caught Beauty Retouching Photos of New Leader". Archived from the original on 2019-06-09. Retrieved 2019-06-09.
  24. http://qosanov2019.kz/platform
  25. https://astanatimes.com/2019/05/ak-zhol-democratic-party-candidate-daniya-yespayevas-platform-addresses-business-environment-public-trust/
  26. "В Казахстане пройдут теледебаты кандидатов в президенты в прямом эфире". Zakon.kz (in Russian). 2019-05-14. Retrieved 2020-05-05.
  27. NUR.KZ (2019-05-24). "Дебаты кандидатов в президенты состоятся 29 мая в Нур-Султане". politics.nur.kz (in Russian). Retrieved 2020-05-06.
  28. NUR.KZ (2019-05-24). "41 млн тенге выделят на проведение теледебатов кандидатов в президенты". www.nur.kz (in Russian). Retrieved 2020-05-06.
  29. NUR.KZ (2019-05-29). "ЦИК утвердил список участников теледебатов". politics.nur.kz (in Russian). Retrieved 2020-05-06.
  30. "Теледебаты кандидатов в президенты Казахстана. Текстовая трансляция". Zakon.kz. 2019-05-29. Retrieved 2020-05-05.
  31. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-48574540
  32. https://www.rferl.org/a/number-of-kazakhs-detained-in-postpresidential-election-protests-nears-4-000/30005365.html
  33. https://www.osce.org/odihr/elections/kazakhstan/422510?download=true
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