Central Election Commission of the Republic of Kazakhstan approved two Resolutions: on the collection of signatures in support of the candidate for presidency and verification of their authenticity, and on the organization of trainings for election commission members and other participants in the electoral process

On April 15, 2019, there was a meeting of the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Kazakhstan, attended by representatives of political parties and a number of state authorities. Two resolutions were considered and adopted at the meeting:

1. “On the collection of signatures in support of the presidential candidate and verification of their authenticity”;

2.  “On the organization of trainings for members of election commissions and other participants in the electoral process during the preparation for the early election of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, scheduled for June 9, 2019”.

The draft of the first Resolution was presented by Member of the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Kazakhstan Akylbek Ikhdanov. The second question was addressed by Secretary of the Central Election Commission Sabila Mustafina.

“On the collection of signatures in support of the presidential candidate and verification of their authenticity”

According to clause 1 of Article 56 of the Constitutional Act on Elections, the support of voters for a presidential candidate is certified by collecting their signatures.

In accordance with clause 3 of Article 56 of the Act, the collection of signatures in support of the presidential candidate is organized by proxies and recorded by signature sheets issued by the Central Election Commission no later than five days after the candidate is checked for compliance with the requirements established by the Constitution and the Constitutional Act on Elections. A presidential candidate must be supported by at least one percent of the total number of voters, equally representing at least two thirds of regions, cities of republican significance and the capital of Kazakhstan. According to the Register, the total number of voters in the Republic of Kazakhstan as of January 1, 2019 is 11 million 814 thousand 19 people. Therefore, the presidential candidate must be supported by at least 118 thousand 140 voters.

A sample signature sheet for collecting signatures in support of the presidential candidate was approved by a Resolution of the Central Election Commission. Each signature sheet must have a serial number and include the surname, first name and patronymic of the candidate, the personal signature of his/her proxy, the last name, first name and patronymic of the person collecting signatures, the name of the locality in which the signatures are collected, and information about the signatories.

The candidates have the right to have proxies who assist them in conducting an election campaign, carry out election campaigns, represent the interests of candidates. The candidates identify proxies at their discretion in an amount not exceeding three people for each polling station in the respective electoral district. In turn, the latter shall submit to the election commission a statement of their consent to be a proxy. The territorial election commission, after the registration of proxies, shall issue the appropriate certificates to them. The proxy must be a citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan, he/she can not be a member of any election commission, a person holding a position of a political public servant. According to the current election legislation, proxies may also involve other individuals who will directly collect signatures of voters in order to organize the collection of signatures.

When collecting signatures, the person collecting the signatures must present a copy of the registration certificate of the candidate’s proxy, and the candidate shall personally sign the corresponding signature sheet. The person collecting the signatures must also sign the signature sheet. Signature collectors do not have additional legal requirements.

Completed signature sheets for collecting signatures in support of the presidential candidate shall be submitted to the territorial election commission, which, within a 10-day period, verifies the authenticity of signatures with the involvement of passport services, draws up a corresponding report on the results of the authenticity of signatures in support of the presidential candidate and sends it to the Central Election Commission. A sample protocol of the territorial election commission on the verification of the authenticity of signatures in support of the presidential candidate was approved by the Resolution of the Central Election Commission on April 10 of the current year.

The Resolution “On the collection of signatures in support of the presidential candidate and verification of their authenticity” reduced the time for issuing signature sheets by the Central Election Commission from 5 to 2 days, as well as the time for verifying the authenticity of signatures is reduced by half from 10 to 5 days.

In other words, the election organizers increase the time for activities of participants in the electoral process by reducing the time required for the internal procedures.

 “On the organization of trainings for members of election commissions and other participants in the electoral process during the preparation for the early election of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, scheduled for June 9, 2019”

According to the Concept of electoral education of the organizers and other participants in the electoral process, approved at a meeting of the Central Election Commission on October 5, 2017, the tasks of providing a regulatory framework for electoral training were set and implemented. Thus, the amendments to the Constitutional Act of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On Elections in the Republic of Kazakhstan” made on June 15, 2017, as well as the amendments to the Budget Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On Local Government and Self-Government in the Republic of Kazakhstan” of June 29, 2018, laid down a legal framework for training members of election commissions.

Starting from 2017, within the framework of the Roadmap, electoral training on the basis of the Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan covered representatives of the following categories of civil servants who organize the electoral process: deputy akims of regions, akims of cities, districts and their deputies, chiefs of akims’ offices, secretaries of maslikhats of all levels, heads of departments of domestic and youth policy, culture, language development.

The partners of this project were the Akimats, the Secretariat of the Assembly of People of Kazakhstan, the Institute of Professional Development and the Center for Interethnic and Interfaith Studies in the Central Asian Region of the Academy of Public Administration. The outcome was the Memorandum of Cooperation between the Central Election Commission and the Academy of Public Administration as of February 8, 2018.

Over 2.5 years, the CEC conducted 62 training events (lectures, seminars, trainings, webinars, summer schools), where 14,610 participants and organizers of electoral processes were trained both at the republican and regional levels.

The basis of the electoral education system was a cascade method of training for the organizers of the election process at all levels of the electoral system.

Its essence lies in the fact that training is carried out in several stages, from the Central Election Commission at the republican level to the precinct election commission.

At the first stage of cascade training, the CEC holds twice a year training workshops for TEC members who work on a professional basis, certified electoral trainers and representatives of regional branches of the Academy of Public Administration.

At the following stages, the TEC members and certified trainers trained by the CEC will train members of low-level commissions.

The professional learning and teaching complexes developed by request of the Central Election Commission represent a methodological basis for two election campaigns: elections of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan and members of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

The special attention of territorial election commissions should be paid to the use of the developed and implemented distance learning and testing system (DLT) with the issuance of the CEC electronic certificates.

The DLT is implemented on the platform of the CEC’s website, provides for the authorization of the student in the computer system; familiarization with operating procedures; independent study of learning material by students, the implementation of practical exercises; tests on topics studied. Those who successfully complete the distance learning course will receive electronic certificates from the CEC of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Thus, the further algorithm for the implementation of cascade training in this election campaign includes the following schedule:

by the end of April of this year – to complete electoral training of all new members of territorial election commissions;

by the end of May - to train all members of the precinct election commissions using all the listed forms of training.

Starting this week, the CEC website will post updated guidance manuals for members of precinct and territorial election commissions, for observers from international organizations and foreign countries, representatives of foreign media, for candidates for the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan and their proxies, for persons with disabilities.

Typographic versions of the guidance manuals and awareness-raising tools will be delivered to the regions for placement in the premises for voting.

The CEC placed an order for the production of a training film about activities of election organizers at the Election Day, which will be available on the Internet resource. Members of election commissions located on the country’s territory without Internet coverage will be provided with the hard drive version.

A large volume of clips is being prepared for the purposes of informational, explanatory and mobilization work with voters.

Following the extended meeting, a briefing was held at the Central Election Commission with the participation of media representatives, where members of the CEC of Kazakhstan answered all questions from the media.