Kazakhstan's 20th electoral district

The Electoral district No. 20 is situated in the territory of Kostanay Region, and its administrative center, Kostanay, serves as the seat of the constituency. The electoral district shares borders with No. 10 (Aktobe Region) to the southeast, No. 28 (Ulytau Region) to the south, No. 19 (Karaganda Region) and No. 9 to the southeast, No. 28 (Ulytau Region) to the west, No. 16 (Jambyl Region) to the southwest, No. 12 (Almaty Region) and No. 17 (Jetisu Region) to the southeast, and No. 24 (Akmola Region) to the north.[4]

The Electoral district No. 20 was formed for the 2004 legislative election as a result of redistribution originally within the boundaries of Almaty Region, and Oralbek Jaqianov served as deputy from the constituency.[5] From there, the electoral district continued to exist until its dissolution following the 2007 amendment, which led to the abolition of all constituencies as part of the transition from a mixed-member majoritarian representation to a fully party-list proportional representation system.[6][7][8] The change affected the composition of all seats in the lower chamber Mäjilis of the Kazakh Parliament beginning with the 2007 legislative election.[9][10]

On 24 December 2022, the Electoral district No. 20 was reestablished by the Central Election Commission in the territory of Kostanay Region, which came into effect on 1 January 2023 as a result of the 2022 amendment.[11][12] The adoption of this amendment marked the reintroduction of a mixed electoral system for electing Mäjilis deputies, with the use of numbered constituencies being reinstated for the first time since 2004.[13][14] It made its debut in the 2023 legislative election, with Erkin Äbil becoming the elected representative of the constituency.[15]