Meeting of the Central Election Commission on the results of organizing training for members of election commissions and other participants of the electoral process

On January 5, 2021, meeting of the Central Election Commission was held on the results of organizing training for members of election commissions and other participants of the electoral process during the campaign for the election of deputies of the Mazhilis of the Parliament and Maslikhats of the Republic of Kazakhstan, scheduled for January 10, 2021.

The meeting was attended by representatives of political parties, OSCE/ODIHR Missions and CIS, territorial election commissions in the videoconferencing mode, representatives of the media - online.

Secretary of the Central Election Commission Sabila Mustafina made a report on the issue of the agenda. She informed that according to the results of organization of electoral training in the republic, 5,180 training events were held, including:

- at the Central Election Commission level - 40 training events, during which 1,007 members of territorial election commissions and 1,454 other election participants were trained;

- at the regional level - 5,140 events with a total number of participants - 148,062 people.

Within the framework of electoral training, the CEC elaborated two educational and methodological complexes for training members of election commissions, as well as a concept of electoral training for other categories of participants in the electoral process. A set of situational tasks has been formed, consisting of 105 cases, as well as a bank of test tasks of 420 questions for testing in two training modules for two separate categories of TEC and PEC members in the state and Russian languages.

In addition, a training video "Election Day" was prepared for members of election commissions, three methodological manuals (for members of TECs, PECs, international observers), a memo and a stencil (for people with disabilities and visual impairments), seven information posters (for voters), training and informational-explanatory videos for all categories of participants of the electoral process, appropriate audio products for PWDs. All of the above educational and methodological materials are posted on the website of CEC of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Sabila Mustafina informed that training of electoral personnel was carried out in stages in the following areas:

The first stage is training at the level of the Central Election Commission: 22 training events were held, during which 1,007 members of territorial election commissions were trained. They include: 2 republican CEC workshops for 113 regional TEC members; 6 cluster training workshops with visits of CEC members and CEC staff to the regions: Almaty, Kostanay, Shymkent, Pavlodar, Atyrau, Nur-Sultan, with coverage of 312 TEC members of all levels; 14 workshops in the mode of video conferencing with members of TECs of the regions, covering 582 people.

The second stage - in accordance with the cascade method of training: on the basis of the regional branches of the Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, 166 courses were held, 105 of which were conducted in full-time format, 61 were organized online. 7,493 members of election commissions took part in them, incl. 599 TEC members and 6,894 PEC members.

As part of the training of lower-level commissions using a cascade method, 4,203 training workshops were held by released TEC members in cities and district centers for TEC members of the city and district level, who further trained the chairpersons and secretaries of PECs. 3,466 workshops were organized in the format of one-day face-to-face classes in small groups, 737 lessons - online.

PEC leaders (chairpersons, deputy chairpersons and secretaries) trained at the previous stage of the cascade method train rank and file members of their commissions. To date, 2,577 lessons have been held for rank and file PEC members, 2,172 of them face-to-face, and 405 online.

The CEC also organized two workshop-meetings with representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and distance interactive training for members of commissions of polling stations located at representative offices of Kazakhstan in foreign countries.

As part of her report, Sabila Mustafina noted that the Central Election Commission is doing everything to make the content of the electoral procedures accessible and understandable for all participants of the electoral process.

Thus, members of the Central Election Commission held an online workshop on legal framework for observing elections at the NGO Academy under the Ministry of Information and Public Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan for representatives of 470 public and non-profit organizations, including political parties.

Also large-scale educational events of CEC were: online lectures at the Academy of Justice under the Supreme Court of the Republic of Kazakhstan for 179 judges from all regions; online classes at the Academy of Law Enforcement Agencies under General Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Kazakhstan for 136 prosecutors from all regions of the country; online workshop for representatives of mass media "On observance of legislation by media during election campaigning" for 50 journalists; Internet Olympiad for university students "Election systems of countries of the world" with coverage of 114 young voters from 27 universities of the republic. Traninings were conducted by members of the CEC of the Republic of Kazakhstan, employees of the CEC staff, invited lecturers and certified trainers.

771 training events were held in the regions, with coverage of 22,843 people from the category of other participants of the electoral process, focusing training on knowledge of basic electoral law, international principles and standards of elections, clarification of rights and responsibilities.

In addition, as part of electoral training participants were trained in interactive training system" Distance learning and testing of electoral personnel" (DOT) in electoral process. Mobile version of the interactive DOT platform was developed in order to ensure personalization of access and user convenience. 98.4% of total number of members of election commissions completed training.

As part of her report, Sabila Mustafina noted that from the moment elections were called all meetings of the CEC were held online in the context of a pandemic and with sign language interpretation. There is a telegram channel and special sections on elections and training on CEC's website. In order to clarify decisions of the Central Election Commission, online briefings are held based on results of meetings on a regular basis.

At the moment, media have carried out: 2688 video shows on air of 7 republican TV channels; 1668 outlets of audio clips on air of 5 republican radio stations, rotation is also carried out in regional TV and radio channels; 10 Internet banners are posted around the clock on 5 republican Internet resources included in top 7, with number of views of about 80 million; 51 modules in 6 republican newspapers.

In addition, 3011 information banners and billboards have been posted on the upcoming elections across the republic.

In addition to openness and publicity of the electoral process this information and explanatory work also has a training orientation as an incentive for citizens to take legally significant actions to exercise their electoral rights.

Based on results of organization of electoral training in regions, chairmen of the territorial election commissions of Akmola, Atyrau and East Kazakhstan regions and the director of branch Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan in Pavlodar region spoke.

Concluding the meeting, Chairman of CEC Berik Imashev noted that electoral training is one of the important components of the electoral process and the CEC has carried out significant work in this direction based on electoral legislation in order to ensure rights of voters.

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