Election Observers Say Kazakh President's Party Had 'Undue Advantage' As It Grabs 70 Percent Of Vote

Four months ago, the Adilet party did not exist.

Today, it dominates Kazakhstan’s political landscape, following an election in which it gained 71.17 percent of the vote according to results announced on August 24.

The vote marks a further tightening of President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev's grip on power -- and was roundly criticized by international election observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

“The 23 August early parliamentary elections, while technically well prepared, took place in an environment lacking political pluralism. Political choice was reduced by the lack of distinct political alternatives, with all contesting parties supporting the incumbent President’s policies,” an OSCE statement said.

In the August 24 statement, issued a day after the vote itself, the OSCE reported misuse of public resources, including public-sector employees being mobilized to attend campaign events, and concluded that Adilet had "an undue advantage that blurred the line between state and party.”

The OSCE noted that independent candidates had been excluded from the election, a factor which “limited political participation and electoral competitiveness.”

Observers also cast doubt on the results themselves, stating that discrepancies between what they saw at polling stations and official turnout data “raised questions about the integrity of the voter turnout reporting and the counting process.”

OSCE missions have made similar criticisms of all previous elections held in Kazakhstan since it became independent after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, noting a lack of genuine political competition in an authoritarian country dominated for decades by presidents Nursultan Nazarbaev (1991-2019) and his successor, Toqaev.

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When Adilet was formed, in April, it absorbed the ruling party that had dominated Kazakhstan during and since the Nazarbaev era.

Its stated aim is to implement Toqaev's policies and it will now comfortably control Kazakhstan's new unicameral parliament, the Kurultai. Adilet’s vote share was more than eleven times that of its nearest rival.

The election was the first since constitutional changes rammed through by Toqaev earlier this year to switch from a previous bicameral structure.

Media Pressure Before the Vote

The election took place amid reports of pressure on independent activists and media.

Almaty-based civil activist Asset Abishev said police blocked access to his home on August 23, which he described as interference with his right to vote.

Another activist, Nurbol Arterkhan, who is under probation and subject to electronic monitoring, said he was repeatedly required to report to probation officials on election day and that police later visited his home.

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According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, five prominent journalists have been jailed or convicted since mid-July, while criminal cases have been opened against two others. Several have also been barred from practicing journalism.

Media freedom was another major concern in the OSCE assessment.

“Long-standing concerns about arrests and pressure on independent journalists generate pervasive self-censorship,” it noted in its statement.

Sevilay Celenk, who headed a team of observers from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), also raised the issue.

“Without an inclusive, credible, and pluralistic media environment, political participation and representation are fundamentally limited, especially during elections,” Celenk said.