On registration of the party list of the "Auyl" People's Democratic Patriotic Party, on the course of consideration of applications from individuals and legal entities and the procedure for clarifying electoral legislation

On 26 November this year, a meeting of the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Kazakhstan was held, which was attended by representatives of political parties, General Prosecutor's Office, Ministries of Justice, Internal Affairs and Finance, territorial election commissions in the videoconferencing mode, and representatives of the media - online.

Two issues were considered at the meeting:

1. On registration of the party list of the "Auyl" People's Democratic Patriotic Party at the regular elections of deputies of the Mazhilis of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan, scheduled for January 10, 2021;

2. On the course of consideration of applications and procedure for clarifying the electoral legislation during the election campaign for the elections of deputies of the Mazhilis of the Parliament and maslikhats of the Republic of Kazakhstan, scheduled for January 10, 2021.

Opening the meeting, Chairman of the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Kazakhstan Berik Imashev recalled that the CEC admitted all 6 political parties registered in Kazakhstan to the election of deputies of the Mazhilis of the Parliament and Maslikhats, elected by party lists.

Member of the Central Election Commission Assylbek Smagulov made a report on the first issue of the agenda.

He informed that on November 19, 2020, documents on nomination of candidates for deputies of the Mazhilis of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan by the "Auyl" People's Democratic Patriotic Party were submitted to the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

To be elected as a deputy of the Mazhilis, a candidate shall be a citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan; have lived in the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan for the last 10 years; be at least 25 years old; have an active right to vote.

In accordance with Article 89 of the Constitutional Act "On Elections in the Republic of Kazakhstan", only one list from one political party shall be allowed for registration, with the number of persons included in it not exceeding the established number of deputy mandates distributed among political parties by thirty percent.

In the party list, the number of women and persons under the age of twenty-nine shall be at least thirty percent of the total number of persons included in it.

The party list of the "Auyl" People's Democratic Patriotic Party includes 19 people, with 4 women and 2 persons under the age of twenty-nine included, which is 31.5 percent of the total number included in the list.

Based on information provided by the authorized bodies, the Central Election Commission carried out check of persons included in the party list for election as a deputy of the Mazhilis for compliance with the requirements of the Constitution and the Constitutional Act on Elections.

All persons included in the party list comply with the requirements of the Constitution and the Constitutional Act on Elections.

In this regard, members of the Central Election Commission adopted a resolution "On registration of the party list of the "Auyl" People's Democratic Patriotic Party at the next elections of deputies of the Mazhilis of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan, scheduled for January 10, 2021".

Member of the Central Election Commission Yerlan Dauylbayev made a report on the second issue of the meeting.

He said that from October 21 to date, 34 appeals were received by the Central Election Commission, including: 5 from individuals, 29 from legal entities, including 13 from the media.

By the nature of the questions received, the appeals were distributed as follows: 50% (17) - on clarification of the norms of the Act on Elections; 17% (6) - on providing information on organization of the electoral process; 12% (4) - proposals for improving the electoral legislation and the activities of the CEC; 21% (7) - on other issues.

Out of all 34 applications received during the specified period: 22 by the CEC administration, exhaustive answers were given to the applicants within the established time frame; 4 were redirected to state bodies in accordance with the procedure established by law as not falling within the competence of the Central Election Commission; one repeated appeal was left without consideration; two media reports posted on the CEC website; 5 requests are pending. There are no unanswered appeals.

The range of issues most frequently raised in the addresses includes proposals for improving the electoral legislation.

Thus, a petition was sent to the Central Election Commission from a public organization, out of 8 items 5 concern the issues of improving the Constitutional Act on Elections. Y.Dauylbayev emphasized that the Central Election Commission is not subject of the legislative initiative right. In this regard, the Central Election Commission staff sends proposals on amendments to the election act to the authorized bodies.

Yerlan Dauylbayev also explained the procedure for appeals to the media.

Thus, in accordance with the Law "On Mass Media", media inquiries, including to clarify the provided official messages, submitted in writing and (or) in the form of an electronic document, shall be sent signed and (or) certified by the electronic digital signature of the editor-in-chief (editor), an authorized person or an accredited journalist. If applications from individuals and legal entities, including media inquiries, are created in electronic form, they shall be certified with an electronic digital signature.

In order to ensure awareness of a wide range of participants in the electoral process of ensuring, as well as the openness of its activities, the Central Election Commission introduced the practice of online broadcasting of meetings.

To date, six meetings were held, at which the corresponding decisions were collectively adopted. These decisions are immediately posted in the public domain on the Central Election Commission website. The topics of the meetings of the Central Election Commission in correlation with specific stages of the electoral process are fixed in the Calendar plans of the main events for preparation and conduct of elections of deputies of the Mazhilis of the Parliament and maslikhats of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Calendar plans approved by the CEC resolutions are also available in the public domain. Moreover, at the end of each meeting and briefings, CEC members, answer questions from the media, explain the topic and the adopted resolutions.

In order to correctly and uniformly understand and apply the norms of law by the participants of the electoral process, Y. Dauylbayev dwelled on the legal norms concerning the powers of the Central Election Commission and other bodies in terms of clarifying legislation during the election campaign.

In accordance with Article 72 of the Constitution, the only body that gives an official interpretation of the norms of the Constitution is the Constitutional Council.

The procedure for clarifying regulatory legal acts shall be regulated by the Law "On Legal Acts". This law provides two forms of clarification: formal and informal.

Thus, the official clarification of regulatory acts of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan shall be carried out by the Ministry of Justice together with the interested state bodies upon instruction of the Prime Minister.

As for clarification of the electoral legislation, it should be borne in mind that it is regulated both by the norms of the Constitutional Act "On Elections in Kazakhstan" and by the provisions of the Law "On Legal Acts".

Authors of inquiries, when applying for clarification to the Central Election Commission, are guided by the reference to the function of the Central Election Commission on organizing clarification of legislation, enshrined in sub-clause 5) of Article 12 of the Constitutional Act "On Elections in the Republic of Kazakhstan".

Based on implementation of this function established by law, the CEC shall:

- independently provide explanations of the legislation on elections;

- organize explanations of the election legislation without making any explanations on their own;

- contact other state bodies for an explanation of certain provisions of the election legislation from the point of view of other laws.

Considering these three outlined aspects, we can conclude that the CEC is not the only and final subject of clarification of electoral legislation, but, on the contrary, acts as a “coordinator” or “organizer”.

As part of clarification of electoral legislation by the CEC, the Law on Legal Acts empowers the CEC to formally clarify only its regulatory legal decisions.

Acting as an organizer, the CEC has the right to preliminary request the position of the authorized state bodies in order to provide an official clarification on its regulatory legal decisions.

The CEC does not have the right to give official explanations of the norms of laws, including Constitutional Act on Elections. The CEC administration, within its competence, can provide unofficial explanation of regulatory acts on public relations related to elections, only with regards to specific subjects or a specific situation.

In order to ensure the rights of citizens to receive complete and reliable information about preparation and conduct of the upcoming elections, the CEC administration elaborated a set of information and explanatory materials (video, audio clips, posters, methodological and other materials) as effective tools for unofficial explanation.

At the moment, the media have carried out:

- 951 demonstrations of video clips on air of 6 republican TV channels;

- 813 broadcasts of audio clips on the air of 5 republican radio stations, rotation is also carried out in regional TV and radio channels;

- 5 internet banners were posted around the clock on 5 republican internet resources included in the top 7, with about 18 million views;

- 12 modules in 6 republican newspapers with total circulation of 925 thousand copies.

In accordance with article 60 of the Law "On Legal Acts", state bodies that pursue state policy, regulate and manage in a particular industry, or whose competence is resolving relevant issues, can provide unofficial explanations within their competence.

The law enforcement and implementation of the Constitutional Act on Elections, the Law on Legal Acts and other sectoral legislation distinguishes, according to their competences and powers, the following subjects of unofficial explanation:

- The Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Committee for Legal Statistics and Special Accounts of the General Prosecutor's Office are involved in clarifying the issues of checking the compliance of candidates included in party lists with legal requirements;

- the state revenue bodies of the Ministry of Finance, when interested persons contact them, explain the tax legislation, including in terms of the application of the norms on the provision of declarations of income and property by candidates;

- The Ministry of Information and Social Development explains the issues of media activities during the election campaign, including issues of pre-election campaigning, as well as in the field of activities of political parties, together with the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Kazakhstan;

- The Ministry of Internal Affairs, as an authorized body for formation of the State Database of Individuals, used by the local executive bodies in the formation of voter lists, and as a body regulating internal migration issues and ensuring protection of public order at polling stations, participates in clarifying these issues;

- ministries of defense, foreign affairs, internal affairs and the National Security Committee are involved in clarifying formation of voter lists for polling stations formed by military units, in health resorts, sanatoriums, inpatient medical and prophylactic institutions, in pre-trial and temporary detention centers, and also at representative offices of Kazakhstan in foreign countries;

- local executive bodies clarify issues related to the formation of voter lists and submission to precinct election commissions, as well as determination of places for placing campaign printed materials.

In his report, Yerlan Dauylbayev emphasized that the Central Election Commission has a special constitutional status - it is a collegial body, and each decision is made at a meeting of the commission by a majority of its members. The opinion of an individual committee member is not the opinion of the entire committee.

Concluding his speech, Y. Dauylbayev noted that the Central Election Commission will continue the practice of informing public about the course of consideration of applications received during the election campaign.

As a result of the second issue of the meeting, resolution of the Central Election Commission was adopted "On the course of consideration of appeals and procedure for clarifying election legislation during the election campaign for the elections of deputies of the Mazhilis of the Parliament and Maslikhats of the Republic of Kazakhstan, scheduled for January 10, 2021".

After the meeting, a briefing for the media took place, at which members of the CEC answered questions from the media.

Press service

Central Election Commission

of the Republic of Kazakhstan

tel. 75-21-03, 75-23-69

a.khusainova@election.gov.kz

v.zheksembekova@election.gov.kz

https://t.me/electionelection