Culture of Participation as a Choice:

A Dialogue with the Young Voters’ Club

A meeting was held in the city of Almaty between Nurlan Abdirov, Chairman  of the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and members of the Almaty Young Voters’ Club.

The event took place ahead of Global Elections Day and as part of the celebrations marking the 35th anniversary of the Independence of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The dialogue was hosted at the “Әlem” Schoolchildren’s Innovation Creativity Center, bringing together active and engaged young people.

During the meeting, Nurlan Abdirov spoke about the work of the Central Election Commission, the key principles underpinning the electoral system, the priorities for developing electoral legislation, and the ongoing efforts to strengthen legal culture and enhance public trust in the institution of elections.

A special emphasis was placed on the development of the Young Voters’ Clubs. While in 2022 such a club operated only under the Central Election Commission, today — on the initiative of young people themselves and with the support of the Chairman of the Central Election Commission — the club movement has expanded across the entire country. At present, 248 Young Voters’ Clubs are operating in Kazakhstan, including nine in the city of Almaty, bringing together more than 300 active young citizens.

As the Chairman of the CEC RK emphasized, participation in the Young Voters’ Clubs is entirely voluntary. Young people join their activities consciously, seeking to gain a deeper understanding of electoral processes, develop civic responsibility, and make a tangible contribution to strengthening democratic institutions.

The CEC Chairman also shared examples of youth engagement in the electoral process. For example, the youngest akim, aged 26, serves in the Irtysh rural district of the Zhanasemey district in Abai region. The youngest maslikhat deputy is 23 years old (Kamysty district in Kostanay region), and the youngest Mazhilis deputy is 28.

The open-dialogue format allowed participants to ask the CEC Chairman questions on key areas of electoral system development. Amir Alniyazov, President of the Kazakhstan-Russian Specialized School-Lyceum No. 54 named after I.V. Panfilov, raised issues related to shaping civic engagement and the reliability of electronic voting. Imanzhan Syzdyk addressed the introduction of artificial intelligence and digital technologies in the electoral process. Amina Abdilbekova turned to the question of expanding youth participation in elections, while Akzhan Erkenbay, a member of the Almaty Young Voters’ Club, proposed opening a page on TikTok. 

The discussion of these topics was continued through the participants’ own remarks, as they shared practical experience of working within the Young Voters’ Clubs.

“We have already held meetings with student groups and school self-government bodies, working according to the ‘peer-to-peer’ principle. We explained what elections are, why they are held, and why participation truly matters. This year I decided to join the Young Voters’ Club — it turned out to be a valuable experience that can be applied in practice. As the CEC Chairman noted, anyone can join the club’s educational activities. My personal example sparked my friends’ interest, and today we are discussing new ideas together,” said meeting participant Gulnaz Zheksen.

Meeting participant Bauyrzhan Makhambet, a member of the Young Voters’ Club under the Territorial Election Commission of Auezov district, also shared his perspective:

“For me, participation in the Young Voters’ Club is, above all, a responsibility to help young people understand the importance of elections, to foster civic engagement, legal literacy, and electoral culture. It is also an opportunity to implement my own initiatives aimed at increasing young people’s trust in the electoral system. I plan to work actively on projects and to organize meetings, interactive lectures, and themed quests in order to make the electoral process clear and relatable for university and school students.”

The active engagement of the young participants is reflected not only in words but also in concrete actions, as confirmed by the results of a traditional online survey on topical electoral issues, in which more than 190 members of the Young Voters’ Clubs took part.

Young voters showed strong interest in the survey, which aimed to capture opinions on key items on the electoral agenda, including recommendations made by OSCE/ODIHR election observation missions regarding elections and referendums.

Key survey findings:

77% of respondents support requiring presidential candidates to have experience in public service;

49.8% prefer traditional voting using paper ballots;

39% believe that citizens declared legally incapacitated by a court should not take part in voting;

43.7% support restricting the voting rights of convicted persons;

62% receive information about elections through social media.

Active participants in the discussion were presented with copies of scientific publications on electoral topics issued to mark the 30th anniversary of the CEC RK.

In turn, representatives of the Club emphasized that during the upcoming electoral campaigns they intend to strengthen voter education efforts — first and foremost among first-time voters. To this end, they plan to actively engage with school, student, and workplace communities so that, by the time voting takes place, young citizens will have no remaining questions about the procedure or the significance of elections.

The meeting proved to be substantive and useful. Participants not only learned more about elections and electoral law, but also gained a clearer understanding of how this knowledge can be applied in practice.