European Forum

OSCE criticized Kazakh parliamentary elections

On 16 January the international election monitors stated that Kazakhstan’s parliamentary elections held the day before failed to meet basic democratic principles. According to a preliminary report of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) several parties had been blocked from the election and public debate was limited in the run-up to the vote. The conclusion of the OSCE goes against the authorities’ statement about the ambition to strengthen democratic processes in Kazakhstan.

According to Kazakh electoral authorities three parties won entry into the new parliament in the elections held on Sunday 15 January. The ruling Nur Otan party of incumbent president Nursultan Nazarbayev won more than 80 percent of the votes. Two other parties, both sympathetic to the president, passed the seven percent threshold, namely Ak Zhol, a pro-business party, and the Communist Peoples’ Party of Kazakhstan, a largely pro-government party. Their presence in parliament would mark the first representation for a party other than the president's since the Central Asian state's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

Orchestrated election
Although in theory the parliamentary elections put an end to Kazakhstan’s much-criticized one-party rule, no real opposition party managed to enter the Mazhilis, the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Kazakhstan. The Social Democratic-Azat Party (ZhSDP-Azat), considered the only real opposition party contesting the polls, received only 1.6 percent of the vote. Kazakhstan, whose electoral system has never been seen as fair and transparent by western governments, was eager to use the vote to boost its international image.

Speaking to reporters in Astana, Miklos Haraszti, the head of the OSCE's long-term election-observation mission, criticized what he called a "tightly controlled campaign environment in which the electoral rights of the citizens were seriously limited." According to Haraszti during the election campaign there was limited public debate where the mass media operated in an environment characterized by self-censorship. Also there was no room for editorial independence in the broadcast media. Haraszti stated that the "results of the election, including the presence of two parties apart from the state party, can be described as an orchestrated election."

OSCE
The international observers of the OSCE concluded that although the elections were well administered at the technical level, and legal changes were made aimed at ensuring representation of at least a second party in parliament, the authorities did not provide the necessary conditions for the conduct of genuinely pluralistic elections. Several political parties were blocked from running and a number of candidates were de-registered without due process. The voting was assessed positively by the OSCE observers on election day, but the counting process significantly lacked transparency and respect for procedures, with cases of fraud noted. Also in many cases, it was not possible for observers to determine whether voters’ choices were honestly reflected.

"If Kazakhstan is serious about their stated goals of increasing the number of parties in parliament, then the country should have allowed more genuine opposition parties to participate in this election," said Special Co-ordinator João Soares who leads the short-term OSCE observer mission and heads the Delegation of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. According to President Nazarbayev the victory of Nur Otan is an endorsement of stability and national unity in Kazakhstan one month after protests by sacked oil workers in the town of Zhanaozen erupted into clashes that killed at least 16 people.

Sources: Radio Free Europe, Aljazeera, OSCE PA, Reuters
Image Flickr by President of the European Council