1999 Kazakh legislative election

1999 Kazakh legislative election

10 October 1999 (first round) 24 October 1999 (second round)
All 77 seats in the Mäjilis 39 seats needed for a majority
Registered	8,411,757
Turnout	62.5% ( 17.3pp)
Majority party Minority party Third party   Leader Nursultan Nazarbayev Azat Peruashev Siyazbek Mukashev Party Otan Civic Party Federation of Trade Unions Leader since 1 March 1999 17 November 1998 23 October 1992 Last election 25 New party 5 Seats won 23 13 11 Seat change 2 13 6 Popular vote 1,622,895 590,184 Percentage 30.9% 11.2%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Serikbolsyn Abdildin Romin Madinov Omirzaq Sarsenov Party Communist Party Agrarian Party People's Cooperative Party Leader since April 1996 6 January 1999 15 December 1994 Last election 2 New party 2 Seats won 3 3 1 Seat change 1 3 1 Popular vote 932,549 663,351 Percentage 17.7% 12.6%
Chairman before election Marat Ospanov Otan Elected Chairman Zharmakhan Tuyakbay Otan

Legislative elections were held in Kazakhstan on 10 October 1999, with a second round on 24 October. The result was a victory for the new Otan party, which won 23 of the 77 seats. Voter turnout was 62.5%.

Background

President Nursultan Nazarbayev announced by public decree on 7 July 1999 that the elections to both Houses of the Parliament (the Senate and Assembly) would take place on 17 September 1999 and 10 October 1999 respectively. The former Soviet republic, independent since 1991, wanted to project with these elections a democratic image because its January presidential election had been criticized in the West as unfair. For the first time, 10 of the 77 seats in the Assembly were contested on a party basis and opposition candidates were given access to the media.

Conduct

International and domestic observers described the parliamentary election as flawed. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, that had deployed 200 observers to monitor the vote, reported that the election had fallen far short of international standards. It was alleged that innocent candidates had been treated unfairly and that voters had been pressured not to vote for certain candidates.

Results

About 60% of the eight million registered voters turned out for the ballot which was a much lower turnout than the one for the 1995 elections, at which voter participation was 79%.

In the election to the Assembly, the ten seats allotted to political parties were decided in the first round on October 10, as well as 20 seats where candidates secured a majority. The remaining 47, where there was no clear majority, were decided at a second round which took place on 24 October.

Kazakhstan's election commission called for new voting to be held in three of the 67 voting districts. The new polls would be held in Atyrau city and the South Kazakhstan and Jambyl regions. The Kazakh election laws do not allow the original candidates to run again in the new voting in these three districts.

For the Senate, on 17 September, deputies in the regional and city assemblies elected the 16 contested seats. Twelve of the new senators were nominated by Maslihats (provinces) and the other four were self-nominated.

Party		National			Constituency			Total seats	+/–
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	Otan	1,622,895	33.17	4			19	23	New
	Communist Party of Kazakhstan	932,549	19.06	2			1	3	+1
	Agrarian Party of Kazakhstan	663,351	13.56	2			1	3	New
	Civic Party of Kazakhstan	590,184	12.06	2			11	13	New
	Democratic Party Azamat	240,132	4.91	0			0	0	New
	Congress Party of Kazakhstan	148,776	3.04	0			0	0	–1
	Alash National Party	144,945	2.96	0			0	0	New
	Party of Kazakhstan's Revival	103,328	2.11	0			0	0	–1
	Republican Political Party of Labour	72,721	1.49	0			0	0	New
	Federation of Trade Unions of Kazakhstan						11	11	+6
	People's Cooperative Party of Kazakhstan						1	1	–1
	Independents						23	23	+16
Against all		373,440	7.63	–				–	–
Total		4,892,321	100.00	10			67	77	+10
Valid votes		4,892,321	93.12
Invalid/blank votes		361,543	6.88
Total votes		5,253,864	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		8,411,757	62.46
Source: Nohlen et al.

External links

• Inter-Parliamentary Union Report on 1999 Kazakhstan Elections
• Parliament of Republic of Kazakhstan
• Central Election Commission