April 20 this year a working trip of the head of the Central Election Commission Nurlan Abdirov to Almaty took place

A working trip of the Chairman of the Central Election Commission Nurlan Abdirov to Almaty took place.

On April 20, 2022, in the building of Al-Farabi Kazakh National University Nurlan Abdirov held a big meeting with representatives of political parties, NGOs, public council, maslikhat, media, public opinion leaders, bloggers, members of election commissions. The event was attended by 380 people.

First of all the CEC Chairman explained in detail the initiatives of the Head of State Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to modernize the electoral process voiced in the Address to the people of Kazakhstan.

The audience supported innovations proposed, emphasizing that when developing the draft Constitutional Law on Elections representatives of relevant public organizations should be included in the working group.

There was an active discussion on the introduction of electronic voting. According to the participants of the meeting, the first stage of its implementation should be a pilot project, within which both remote electronic voting using EDS and stationary - directly at the polling stations will function. In their opinion, for a separate category of voters, the traditional form of voting on paper ballots should still be preserved.

A number of other proposals were made by the public to improve the electoral system, in particular, such as updating the composition of precinct election commissions before the elections, systematic electoral training of all participants in the electoral process, expanding the rights and powers of national observers, equipping polling stations with video surveillance cameras, expanding channels for informing about the course of election campaigns.

Following the meeting, the Chairman of the Central Election Commission noted that "an important direction in the modernization of the electoral process and the formation of electoral culture is the legal education of both observers and all members of election commissions."

365 people took part in the traditional meeting of Nurlan Abdirov with students of various universities and colleges in Almaty.

An important topic of the meeting was the issue of the need to increase the interest and confidence of young people in the institution of elections, the formation of an electoral culture among them. The meeting participants emphasized the importance of ideological guidelines for young people, allowing them to consciously and actively exercise their voting rights.

Participants paid special attention to the digitalization of the electoral process, including using blockchain technologies. According to young people, this will increase citizens' confidence in the elections.

Also, the audience received questions about legal requirements for candidates for elective positions, the measures of election commissions to ensure transparency and openness of elections, the participation of youth NGOs in the electoral process as subjects of nomination, etc. All questions of the participants were given exhaustive answers.

As in other regions, an online survey was conducted on topical issues of the electoral process. The results of the survey among young people showed the following data: 44.8% of respondents support the introduction of remote electronic voting; 70.6% of respondents believe that a candidate for the President of the country must know the state language and a linguistic exam is mandatory; 49.5% of the respondents answered that a citizen who had a criminal record cannot be nominated for elected positions of the President, deputy, akim. Also, 39.2% of respondents answered that a deputy elected on a party list cannot change his party affiliation.

As a result of the meeting, Nurlan Abdirov handed over to its active participants a book published by the Central Election Commission: “The History of Election in Kazakhstan”.

The youth representatives, in turn, expressed their gratitude to the head of the CEC for the open and interesting dialogue that had taken place.

Meetings of the Chairman of the Central Election Commission with the public and youth of Almaty as in other regions were broadcast on social networks.

The next working trip of Nurlan Abdirov is scheduled to the East Kazakhstan region on April 25 this year.