Calendar Plan of the Main Events for the Preparation and Conduct of the 

Elections of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Scheduled for 

November 20, 2022, was Approved

On September 22, 2022, a meeting of the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Kazakhstan was held under the chairmanship of Nurlan Abdirov, and was attended by representatives of political parties, the media, the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Ministries of Information and Social Development and Internal Affairs; members of the territorial election commissions of regions, cities of republican significance and the capital participated via videoconferencing.

Opening the meeting, Chairman of the Central Election Commission N. Abdirov stressed that the election of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan is the most important social and political event in the life of the country. “With the appointment of the elections of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the electoral cycle begins, which is based on the modernisation of the political system and is fully consistent with the logic of the constitutional reform, supported by the majority of citizens in the June referendum,” Nurlan Abdirov said.

The meeting addressed three issues:

1. On approval of the calendar plan of the main events for the preparation and conduct of the elections of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, scheduled for November 20, 2022;

2. On the organisation of the activities of observers of foreign states, international organisations, representatives of foreign media;

3. On the organisation of training for members of election commissions and other participants in the electoral process during the period of preparation for the election of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, scheduled for November 20, 2022.

1. The election calendar was presented by Deputy Chairman of the Central Election Commission Konstantin Petrov.

In accordance with paragraph 1 of Article 51-1 of the Constitutional Act of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On Elections in the Republic of Kazakhstan,” early presidential elections shall be called by the decision of the President of the Republic and held within two months from the date of the appointment.

The basis for determining the duration of individual stages of the campaign shall be Article 66-1 of the Constitutional Act “On Elections in the Republic of Kazakhstan.”

The terms for conducting electoral events of early elections of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan shall be established by the Central Election Commission.

The calendar plan of the main events for the preparation and conduct of the elections of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, scheduled for November 20, 2022, has been elaborated in accordance with the current election legislation.

Thus, the nomination of candidates for the position of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan will begin on September 23 and end at 18:00 on October 11 this year. The right to nominate candidates for the presidency belongs to republican public associations. The decision on nomination shall be made by a majority vote of the total number of members of the supreme body of the republican public association.

Requirements for candidates by the Constitution and the Constitutional Act “On Elections in the Republic of Kazakhstan”:

- citizenship by birth;

- residence in the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan for the last 15 years;

- higher education;

- age not younger than 40 years;

- possession of active suffrage;

- at least 5 years of experience in public service or elected positions;

- fluency in the state language.

Support for presidential candidates shall be certified by the collection of signatures of at least 1% of voters equally representing at least 2/3 of the regions, cities of republican significance and the capital. As of July 1 this year, 11,827,277 citizens with the right to vote were included in the Register of Voters of the Republic of Kazakhstan by the Central Election Commission. Thus, at least 118,273 valid voter signatures shall be collected in support of each candidate.

The election campaign will begin after the end of the registration stage and will last until 00:00 on November 19, 2022.

Voting will take place on November 20, 2022 from 07:00 to 20:00 local time. The results of the vote count for administrative-territorial units shall be established at meetings of territorial commissions and delivered to the CEC within two days (no later than November 22 this year).

No more than 10 days after the elections shall be provided for the establishment and publication of the election results, the registration of the elected President by the Central Election Commission.

Out of 60 days from the date of publication of the decree, including voting day: the nomination phase will last 19 days; establishment of conformity, issuance, collection and verification of signatures – 29 days; pre-election campaign – 28 days; November 19 – the day of silence; November 20 – voting day; establishment of results and registration of the elected President – no more than 7 days; publication of a message on the results of the elections in the media no later than 10 days from the date of the elections, that is, no later than November 30.

Following the speech of K. Petrov, the Resolution of the CEC of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On approval of the Calendar Plan of the main events for the preparation and holding of the elections of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, scheduled for November 20, 2022” was adopted.

2. A report on the organisation of the activities of observers of foreign states, international organisations, representatives of foreign media was made by Secretary of the CEC of the Republic of Kazakhstan Mukhtar Yerman.

In his speech, Mukhtar Yerman emphasised that the Republic of Kazakhstan, as a member of many international organisations, invariably fulfils its international obligations to open an institute of international observation.

At the same time, observers of foreign states and international organisations shall be accredited by the Central Election Commission upon the proposal of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Accredited observers of foreign states and international organisations shall receive an accreditation certificate of the form established by the CEC, which is the basis for their activities during the election period. Representatives of foreign mass media will be able to observe the elections if they have an accreditation certificate issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

In case of violation by observers of the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan or generally recognised norms of international law, the relevant election commission shall have the right to submit to the Central Election Commission a proposal to revoke the accreditation of an observer of a foreign state, international organisation.

The accreditation of an observer of a foreign state, international organisation may be withdrawn by the Central Election Commission on the basis of an application from the relevant foreign state, international organisation upon the proposal of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

The accreditation process will complete at 18.00 Astana time five days before voting day, i.e. November 14, 2022.

As a result of M. Yerman’s speech, the Resolution of the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On the organisation of the activities of observers of foreign states, international organisations, representatives of foreign media” was adopted.

3. Sabila Mustafina, a member of the CEC of the Republic of Kazakhstan, spoke on the third issue of the meeting.

She informed that as part of the training of members of election commissions and other participants in the electoral process in preparation for the early elections of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the CEC of the Republic of Kazakhstan will hold a number of online and offline events, including distance learning and testing, which is implemented on the Central Election Commission website. When conducting electoral education, a cascade method will be applied, which involves training of lower electoral bodies by higher electoral bodies.

On the basis of the Central Election Commission, training workshop-meetings will be held for election headquarters and proxies on organisational and procedural issues of the election campaign of presidential candidates.

One of the platforms for electoral education of participants in the electoral process was the Centre for Electoral Education at the Academy of Public Administration.

Thus, the Centre for Electoral Education plans workshops for:

- Mass media representatives (September);

- representatives of political parties (September);

- employees of regional call centers (October);

- electoral lawyers (October);

- employees of local executive bodies (November);

- employees of law enforcement and judicial bodies (November).

Together with Ministry of Information and Social Development, training workshops will be held in offline and online formats for representatives of the republican and regional:

- mass media;

- non-governmental organisations;

- public associations aimed at participating in election observation on voting day.

The further algorithm for the implementation of cascade learning in this election campaign will be carried out in accordance with the following steps:

until November 1 this year – training of the staff of territorial election commissions will be completed;

until November 18 this year – all members of precinct election commissions will be trained.

The training methodology for members of precinct election commissions will be practice-oriented, case studies will be used to analyse critical situations that occurred in past electoral campaigns.

Methodological manuals for members of precinct and territorial election commissions, for observers from international organisations and foreign states, media representatives, for candidates, proxies, for persons with disabilities will be posted on the CEC website.

Video clips will be prepared for work with voters of information, explanatory and mobilisation nature, as well as a film about the work of the election organisers on the voting day.

As a result of S. Mustafina’s speech, the Resolution of the CEC of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On the organisation of training for members of election commissions and other participants in the electoral process in preparation for the early elections of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan scheduled for November 20, 2022” was adopted.

During the meeting, Chairman of the CEC of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nurlan Abdirov stressed that the Central Election Commission will ensure the conduct of the election campaign in strict accordance with the law and create all conditions for healthy and fair competition.

Following the meeting, a briefing for representatives of the media was held, at which members of the CEC of the Republic of Kazakhstan answered questions from the media.