The Central Election Commission Established the Forms of Election 

Documents for the Election of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan

On September 23, 2022, a meeting of the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Kazakhstan was held under the chairmanship of Nurlan Abdirov, which was attended by representatives of political parties, the Agency for Civil Service Affairs, the Ministries of Internal Affairs, Justice, the Prosecutor General’s Office and the media, members of territorial election commissions of regions, cities of republican significance and the capital participated via videoconferencing.

The meeting addressed two issues:

1. On establishing the forms of election documents for the election of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan scheduled for November 20, 2022;

2. On the organisation of verification of the compliance of candidates for the President with the requirements of the legislation in the elections of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, scheduled for November 20, 2022.

1. Deputy Chairman of the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Kazakhstan Konstantin Petrov made a report on the establishment of forms of election documents.

He informed that in accordance with the Constitutional Act of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On Elections in the Republic of Kazakhstan,” the Central Election Commission prepared 18 forms of election documents for holding presidential elections:

- nomination documents;

- documents accepted within the powers of territorial election commissions;

- documents accepted within the powers of precinct election commissions;

- other forms of election documents.

Candidates for the presidency shall be nominated by republican public associations represented by their supreme bodies. The decision to nominate candidates for the President shall be made by a majority vote from the total number of members of the supreme body of the republican public association and shall be drawn up in an extract from the protocol.

The decision of the supreme body of the republican public association:

1) shall be brought to the attention of the presidential candidate;

2) together with the application of the candidate for President on his/her consent to run, shall be submitted to the Central Election Commission.

An extract from the protocol of the supreme body of the republican public association shall contain information on the total number of members of the supreme body of the republican public association and the support of votes on the nomination of a candidate.

According to the powers established by the Constitutional Act on Elections, the CEC of the Republic of Kazakhstan shall adopt a protocol on establishing the compliance of a candidate for President with the requirements imposed on him/her by the Constitution and the Act of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On Elections in the Republic of Kazakhstan.”

A number of documents concerning the functions of precinct election commissions have been elaborated.

Forms of electoral documents have also been elaborated: the list of voters; a form of a signature sheet for collecting signatures of voters in support of presidential candidates; candidate certificate; identity of a proxy; certificate of an observer of a foreign state, international organisation.

2. Member of the Central Election Commission Shavkat Utemissov spoke on the second item on the agenda.

He said that in accordance with the Constitution and the Constitutional Act of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On Elections in the Republic of Kazakhstan,” a candidate for President can be a citizen of the Republic by birth, who has reached forty years of age, is fluent in the state language, has lived in Kazakhstan for the last fifteen years and has a higher education. To be elected President, a citizen shall have at least 5 years of experience in the civil service or elected public positions, and also have an active suffrage.

Citizens recognised by the court as legally incompetent, as well as those held in places of deprivation of liberty by a court verdict, shall have no right to elect and be elected. A person who has an outstanding or unrevoked conviction in the established order, as well as a person who has been found guilty of committing a corruption crime and a corruption offense in accordance with the procedure established by law, cannot be a candidate for the President.

Compliance of a presidential candidate with the requirements shall be determined by the CEC of the Republic of Kazakhstan within five days from the date of submission of an extract from the minutes of the meeting of the Supreme body of the republican public association on nominating a candidate along with the candidate’s statement of consent to run and a document certifying the payment of the election fee by the candidate.

The form of a candidate’s statement of consent to run for office shall be approved by a decision of the Central Election Commission. The application shall be accompanied by biographical data in a separate form, information about work experience in the public service or elected public positions, a document on making an electoral contribution.

A presidential candidate shall allocate an electoral contribution to the account of the Central Election Commission in the amount of fifty times the minimum wage established by law.

From the moment of receipt of these documents, the Central Election Commission shall immediately send requests to the authorised state bodies. The term for consideration of requests by the specified state bodies and submission of information to the Central Election Commission shall be two calendar days from the date of receipt of the request.

After receipt of the relevant information from the authorised bodies, the Central Election Commission shall draw up a protocol in the form approved by the CEC resolution on establishing the compliance of a candidate for the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan with the requirements of the Constitution and the Constitutional Act of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On Elections in the Republic of Kazakhstan.”

The protocol of the Central Election Commission shall establish compliance or non-compliance of a candidate with the current legislation, including the conclusion of the linguistic commission on the knowledge of the state language. 

Following the meeting, a briefing for representatives of the media was held, at which members of the Central Election Commission answered questions from the media.