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
Turnout68.4%
  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 Increase41 Decrease1
Popular vote 5,247,720 183,346
Percentage 88.4% 3.1%
Chair before election

Oral Muhamedjanov
Nur Otan

 Elected Chair

Aslan Musin
Nur Otan

Politics of Kazakhstan

Commonwealth of Independent States CIS member state

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
PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Nur Otan5,247,72088.4198+41
Nationwide Social Democratic Party269,3104.540New
Ak Zhol Democratic Party183,3463.090–1
Auyl Kazakh Social Democratic Party89,8551.5100
Communist People's Party76,7991.2900
Party of Patriots46,4360.7800
Rukhaniyat Party22,1590.3700
Members elected by the Assembly of People9New
Total5,935,625100.00107+30
Valid votes5,935,62597.59
Invalid/blank votes146,8052.41
Total votes6,082,430100.00
Registered voters/turnout8,891,56168.41
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
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