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No violations recorded during Kazakh parliamentary election, CSTO observers say

The CSTO official also noted the innovations used in Kazakhstan in the conditions of the pandemic

NUR-SULTAN, January 11. /TASS/. The mission of observers of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly (CSTO PA) has not registered any violations during the Sunday election to the lower house of Kazakhstan’s parliament and thinks that the vote was well-organized, head of the mission, Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Issues of the CIS and Contacts with Fellow Countrymen Umakhan Umakhanov said at a briefing on Monday.

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"At those polling stations that we visited no violations were recorded. The election was highly organized," he said. The official also noted the innovations used in Kazakhstan in the conditions of the pandemic, for instance, transparent ballot boxes and the absence of front curtains in polling booths.

Elections to the lower house of Kazakhstan’s parliament were held on Sunday. Five out of Kazakhstan’s six registered parties were vying for seats in the parliament: the People’s Party of Kazakhstan, the ruling Nur Otan (The Light of the Fatherland) party, the Auyl (Village) People’s Democratic Patriotic Party, the Ak Zhol (The Path of Light) Democratic Party, and the Adal (Honesty) party. Kazakhstan’s Central Election Commission intends to announce the preliminary results of the election at 15:00 (12:00 Moscow time). All electoral procedures should be completed by January 17.

According to two opinion polls, the Nur Otan party is in the lead with about 72% of the vote, followed by the Ak Zhol Democratic Party and the People’s Party of Kazakhstan that score more than the required 7% of the vote. These three parties are currently represented in the lower house of Kazakhstan’s parliament. The voter turnout, according to the preliminary data of the Central Election Commission, stands at 63.3%.

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