Meeting of the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Kazakhstan was held on May 24, 2019

On May 24, 2019, a meeting of the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Kazakhstan was held, attended by representatives of political parties and the OSCE / ODIHR Mission. The meeting addressed the following issues:

1.  “Conducting pre-election debates and discussions at the early election of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, scheduled for June 9, 2019”

2.  “Accreditation of observers of international organizations and foreign states at the early election of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, scheduled for June 9, 2019”

“Conducting pre-election debates and discussions at the early election of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, scheduled for June 9, 2019”

The Central Election Commission of the Republic of Kazakhstan adopted a resolution on conducting pre-election televised debates and discussions at the early election of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

The resolution determined the date of pre-election television debates and discussions - on May 29, 2019 - on the air of the television channel of the Agency “Khabar” Joint-Stock Company in Nur-Sultan.

Currently, the Rules have been developed for conducting television election debates and discussions, which stipulate the procedure for conducting them.

TV debates are divided into 3 rounds.

The topic of the first round is “Priorities of economic development of Kazakhstan.” The first round of pre-election television debates and discussions includes two tours.

In the first tour, each participant will give a speech with the aim of presenting his/her election program.

In the second tour, a question and answer discussion session is anticipated between participants. Participants may ask their counterparts two questions, as well as answer two questions.

The topic of the second round is “Social modernization of Kazakhstan”.

In the first tour of the second round, participants will speak on a given topic.

In the second tour, the host will ask one question to all participants.

The topic of the third round is “Address to voters”. In the third and final round, participants directly address voters.

“Accreditation of observers of international organizations and foreign states at the early election of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, scheduled for June 9, 2019”

A member of the Central Election Commission, Zauresh Baimoldina, reported that 125 observers were accredited by the Central Election Commission on the 6th, 13th, and 21st of May, 2019, including:

-109 observers from five international organizations: CIS, IPA CIS, OSCE / ODIHR and OIC;

-16 observers from 8 foreign states that are representatives of the central electoral authorities of Armenia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Malaysia, Moldova, Latvia, the Russian Federation, and Turkey.

On May 2 and 23, 2019, the Foreign Ministry of Kazakhstan sent submissions for the accreditation of observers from a number of Missions:

- 19 observers from the CIS Observation Mission;

- 24 observers from the SCO Observation Mission;

- 10 observers from TurkPA;

- 63 observers from OSCE PA.

Along with this, 7 observers from foreign states represent the central electoral authorities of Azerbaijan, Belarus, Latvia and Mongolia.

All 123 observers were submitted for accreditation.

Data on observers is being updated as soon as submissions for accreditation are received.

Accreditation of observers of foreign states and international organizations will be carried out by the CEC until 6:00 pm on June 3, 2019.

In total, there are 248 observers from international organizations and foreign countries as of May 24.