On conducting public opinion polls

On conducting public opinion polls 

As of 16 September of this year, the CRC received notifications on conducting public opinion polls from 4 (four) legal entities with attached copies of relevant documents: 

1. The Public Policy Institute under the “Amanat” Party – survey method: face-to-face interviews, on the voting day – to survey outside the premises and polling stations (exit-poll);

2. “The Institute of Complex Social Research - Astana” PF ICSR ‘SOCIS-A” – survey method: ‘face to face’ interview, remote questioning using social networks and mailings, on the day of voting polling outside the premises and polling stations (exit-poll);

3. Public Association “Scientific and Research Association “Institute of Democracy” - survey method: ‘face to face’ interviews;

4. “Institute of Eurasian Integration” LLP - survey method: public opinion survey at the exit from the referendum polling stations on the day of voting, exit-poll. 

In accordance with the requirements of Article 7-1 of the Constitutional Law “On the Republican Referendum”, the public opinion polls related to the republican referendum should be conducted during the period of its preparation and conduct of the referendum in accordance with the norms established by the Constitutional Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On Elections in the Republic of Kazakhstan”.

Hence, according to paragraph 9 of Article 28 of the Constitutional Law “On Elections in the Republic of Kazakhstan”, public opinion survey may be conducted by legal entities, registered in accordance with the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan, having at least five years of experience in conducting public opinion survey, having previously notified the Central Election Commission in writing with the relevant documents attached.

When publishing the results of public opinion polls related to referendum, the media shall be required to indicate the legal entity that conducted the poll, the persons who ordered the poll and paid for it, the time of the poll, the method of collecting information, the exact wording of the question, the number of respondents and coefficient of error of the survey results.

The violation of the conditions for conducting a public opinion poll related to the referendum are subject to bringing a person to administrative responsibility (Article 120 of the Code of Administrative Infractions).