On April 10, 2019, the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Kazakhstan approved the Calendar Plan of main activities for the preparation and conduct of the early election of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, scheduled for June 9, 2019

On April 10, 2019, there was a video conferencing meeting of the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Kazakhstan, attended by representatives of political parties, as well as members of territorial election commissions of regions, cities of republican significance and the capital of Kazakhstan. The meeting addressed two issues:

1. Approval of the Calendar Plan of main activities for the preparation and conduct of the early election of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, scheduled for June 9, 2019;

2. Establishment of the forms of election documents for the early election of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, scheduled for June 9, 2019.

A report on the calendar plan was presented by Deputy Chairman of the CEC of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Konstantin Petrov. Head of the electoral process department of the Central Election Commission, Iskakov Dauren, presented a report on the establishment of forms of election documents.

1. Calendar Plan of main activities for the preparation and conduct of the elections of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, scheduled for June 9, 2019

The calendar plan of the main activities for the early election of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan has been designed in strict accordance with the current election legislation.

The basis for determining the duration of separate stages of the election is Article 66-1 of the Constitutional Act “On Elections in the Republic of Kazakhstan”. The dates for election activities at the early election of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan shall be established by the Central Election Commission. According to this plan, the nomination of candidates to the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan begins on the day following the day of the election, i.e. from April 10, 2019, to 18:00 pm on April 28 of this year. The right to nominate presidential candidates in accordance with clause 1 of Article 55 of the Constitutional Act “On Elections” belongs to republican public associations registered in the prescribed manner. The decision on nomination is taken by a majority of votes from the total number of members of the highest body of the republican public association. The compliance of a candidate with the requirements of the Constitution and the Constitutional Act “On Elections” is carried out by the Central Election Commission within five days from the date of submission of an extract from the protocol of the meeting of the highest body of the republican public association on nominating the candidate, together with the candidate’s statement of consent to run for presidency and a document confirming that the candidate has paid the election contribution.

Requirements of the Constitution and the Constitutional Act “On Elections in the Republic of Kazakhstan” are:

- citizenship by birth;

- residing on the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan for the last 15 years;

- higher education;

- age not younger than 40 years;

- the right to vote;

- work experience in the public service or in elective positions for at least 5 years;

- fluency in the state language.

The support of presidential candidates must be certified by collecting signatures of at least 1% of voters, equally representing at least 2/3 of the regions, cities of republican significance and the capital. As of 1 January 19, 11,814,019 citizens who have the right to vote are included by the Central Election Commission in the Voter Register of the Republic of Kazakhstan. In other words, 118,140 authentic voter signatures should be collected in support of each candidate. The issuance of signature sheets will be made within 5 days after the candidate’s compliance with the requirements of the Constitution and the Constitutional Act is established. The collection of signatures is organized by proxies of presidential candidates. The registration of proxies, as well as the procedure for verifying the authenticity of signatures with the participation of passport authorities, is carried out by territorial election commissions.

To be registered as presidential candidates, the nominees will need to submit to the CEC a certificate of the state revenue authority on the submission of the income and property declaration by him/her and the spouse as of the first day of the nomination month, i.e. on 01 April 2019, as well as a medical report on the state of his/her health. The candidate registration will last until 6:00 pm May 11 of this year. The candidate registration can be canceled by the CEC in case of detection by the state revenue authorities of the unreliability of information on income and property in the submitted declarations.

The election campaign will begin immediately after the end of the registration stage and will last until 12:00 pm of the day preceding the voting day, in other words, until 12:00 pm on June 8. According to clause 3 of Article 28 of the Constitutional Act “On Elections”, the announcement and publication of information about the amount of payment, the conditions and procedure for the presentation of air and print space to registered presidential candidates of the Republic of Kazakhstan should be carried out no later than 5 days before the start of the election campaign, i.e. until May 5 of this year. A number of items in the calendar plan establish a timeline for informing participants in the electoral process about the composition of election commissions, locations of polling stations, the submission deadlines for voter lists, time and place of voting.

The voting will take place on June 9 from 07:00 am to 8:00 pm local time. Counting of votes at polling stations shall be no later than 12 hours after the end of voting.

The results of the vote counting in administrative and territorial units are established at meetings of territorial commissions and delivered to the CEC within two days (no later than June 11).

The Central Election Commission provides 7 days for the establishment and publication of election results, as well as for the registration of the elected President.

2. Establishment of forms of election documents

In accordance with subclauses (1), (2), (6) of Article 12 of the Constitutional Act “On Elections in the Republic of Kazakhstan”, a resolution of the Central Election Commission “On the establishment of forms of electoral documents for the early election of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, scheduled for June 9, 2019” was developed in order to prepare and conduct the early presidential election.

The resolution envisages the approval of forms of documents required at all stages of the electoral process.

The voter list for the early election of the President. This form provides information in accordance with clause 4 of Article 24 of the Constitutional Act “On Elections”.

The signature sheet for collecting signatures in support of the presidential candidate. The form of the signature sheet was developed in accordance with clause 4 of Article 56 of the Constitutional Act. The signature sheet consists of two sides printed on one sheet, and it has a color logo of the Central Election Commission.

The form of the candidate’s statement of consent to run for the presidency. The statement contains information about the candidate, which is necessary to verify the compliance of the presidential candidate with the requirements of the legislation. Biographical data shall be attached to the statement in accordance with the established procedure; as well as information on work experience in public service or elective government positions; and a document certifying the payment of the election contribution.

The form of the protocol of the territorial election commission on the registration of proxies of the presidential candidate. Clause 2 of Article 31 of the Constitutional Act establishes that candidates determine proxies at their own discretion in an amount not exceeding three persons per polling station in the relevant electoral district, and inform about them to the respective election commission for registration.

The form of the protocol of the territorial election commission on the results of verification of the authenticity of signatures in support of the presidential candidate. The verification of the authenticity of signatures is carried out before the establishment of authentic signatures in the quantity necessary for the presidential candidate, in accordance with the requirements of the Constitutional Act.

The form of the protocol of the Central Election Commission on the compliance of the presidential candidate with the requirements of the Constitution and the Constitutional Act. The candidate’s compliance shall be determined, among other things, on the basis of information provided by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Education and Science, the Agency for Civil Service Affairs and Anti-Corruption, the Committee on Legal Statistics and Special Records of the General Prosecutor's Office.

The form of the decision of the territorial election commission for establishing a different time for starting and ending of the voting. In accordance with clause 1 of Article 38 of the Constitutional Act, territorial election commissions upon the recommendation of the relevant akim and precinct election commissions, have the right to set a different start and end time for voting. At the same time, the voting cannot begin before 6 am and end no later than 10 pm. The decision of the territorial commissions to change the start and end time of voting should be communicated to voters.

The form of the decision of the territorial election commission to approve the list of polling stations where voting can be completed at any time. Clause 3 of Article 38 stipulates that, if all voters included in the list have voted, then the precinct election commission may declare the voting completed at any time at polling stations formed on ships owned by the Republic of Kazakhstan and navigating at the day of the elections, or located in military units, remote and hard-to-reach areas, at sites of distant-pasture livestock breeding, in recreation centers, in-patient health-care institutions, pre-trial and temporary detention facilities, as well as at representative offices of the Republic of Kazakhstan in foreign states. The list of such precincts shall be approved by the relevant election commission no later than seven days before the election.

The form of the protocol of the precinct election commission on the opening of the polling station. The opening of the voting shall be governed by article 40 of the Constitutional Act.

The form of the protocol of the precinct election commission on the results of voting in the polling station at the early presidential election. The counting of votes is carried out by the members of the election commission without interruption until the establishment of the voting results, which should be brought to the attention of the persons present during the counting of votes. The time for vote counting at a polling station shall not exceed twelve hours from the beginning of the counting.

The form of the protocol of the territorial election commission on the results of the vote counting at the early presidential election. The results of the vote counting in the presidential election shall be established at a meeting of the territorial election commission and shall be recorded in the protocol, which is signed by the chairman and members of the commission and sent to the Central Election Commission within two days.

The form of the protocol of the Central Election Commission on the results of the early presidential election. According to clause 1 of Article 65, the Central Election Commission, on the basis of the protocols of the territorial election commissions, shall establish the results of the election of the President and adopt a corresponding resolution no later than seven days after the election.

The form of the certificate of the presidential candidate. During the registration, the Central Election Commission shall issue a corresponding certificate to the presidential candidate.

The form of the certificate of the proxy of the presidential candidate. The territorial election commission shall issue a corresponding certificate after the registration of proxies.

The form of the certificate of the international observer. According to clauses 2 and 4 of Article 20-2 of the Constitutional Act, observers of foreign states and international organizations are accredited to the Central Election Commission on the recommendation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Accredited observers of foreign states and international organizations are provided with a standard-form certificate established by the Central Election Commission, which is the basis for their activities during the election campaign.

The report form No. 1 on the number of polling stations and the number of voters included in the lists on the day of submission of voter lists in the relevant administrative-territorial unit. This report form shall be submitted by the territorial election commission to the Central Election Commission after the submission of the voters' lists to voters.

The report form No. 2 on voter turnout at the early presidential election in the relevant administrative and territorial unit. This report form shall be submitted by the territorial election commission to the Central Election Commission every two hours on the day of the election.

The report form No. 3 on the results of the vote counting at the early presidential election in the relevant administrative and territorial unit. This report form shall be submitted in electronic form by the territorial election commission to the Central Election Commission after the counting of votes. The resolution of the Central Election Commission “On the establishment of forms of election documents for early election of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, scheduled for June 9, 2019” was developed taking into account the requirements of the legislation and agreed with the staff and members of the Central Election Commission.

Following the meeting, a press conference was held at the CEC with the participation of media representatives, where members of the CEC of Republic of Kazakhstan answered all questions of the media and the general public.