Adilet, the party of President Kasim-Yomart Tokayev, won by a wide margin in the legislative elections held in Kazakhstan on Sunday. According to the preliminary results released on Monday by the Central Election Commission of Kazakhstan, Adilet obtained a large absolute majority with 71.17% of the votes.
The turnout reached 74% of the voters, which is more than 9 million. In the diplomatic representations of Kazakhstan in Madrid and Barcelona, a total of 105 people residing in our country voted, according to sources from the Embassy reported to Diplomacy News.
That result, pending final confirmation, grants President Tokayev a sufficient parliamentary majority to advance his reform projects, the first part of which was already reflected in the approval, with 87.15% of the votes, of the constitutional reform in the referendum held on March 15.
In that referendum, the main reform was the abolition of the bicameral system which until now consisted of a Senate with 47 members and a Lower House (Mazhilis) with 107 legislators. From now on, both will be replaced by the Kurultái, the new unicameral chamber that has 145 elected, not appointed, members.
This new legislative chamber will have among its functions, in addition to debating and approving laws, to give the green light to the national budget, exercise control over the Government and, if necessary, review its confidence in the Executive, whose main electoral proposals have referred to boosting employment and wages; improving housing and health conditions; modernizing infrastructure; and promoting entrepreneurship, digitalization, and artificial intelligence.
From now on, after the full resignation of the current Government, Kasim-Yomart Tokayev has 30 days to convene the first plenary session of the Kurultái, which in turn will have to approve the nominations presented by the president for the positions of vice president and prime minister among others.
In the elections this Sunday, five parties surpassed the electoral threshold of 5%, necessary to have representation in the new parliament. In addition to Ädilet, which obtained 71.17%; the second most voted party was Auyl (6.26%), followed by Respublica (5.56%); Ak Zhol (5.21%); and the National Social Democratic Party (5.11%).
Below 5% of the votes were the People’s Party of Kazakhstan (3.11%) and the environmental party ‘Baitak’ (1.07%). The option ‘Against all’ received 2.51% of the votes.
More than 51,000 national observers and 777 representatives from foreign states and international organizations supervised the electoral process.
President Tokayev avoided commenting on the possibility of running for a new term in 2029, as the law allows it. Diplomatic sources indicated to Diplomacy News that it is still too early to know.
