Astana: independent candidates want rule of law

They are economists, journalists, academics and activists. They demand the truth about the arrests after the January 2022 protests. The system favours parties directly and indirectly linked to the ruling elite. Electoral Commission controlled by the government.

Moscow (AsiaNews) - As their manifesto states, "we want the rule of law, a strong parliament able to control the activities of the government, and a fair balance of the three branches of power, ensuring the independence of the media, the fourth power".

A group of Kazakh candidates in the uninominal constituencies for the 19 March parliamentary elections presented their election programme at a press conference in Almaty. The city is the most populous in Kazakhstan, the scene of the January 2022 protests suppressed by the police with the help of Russian soldiers. The main aim of their initiative is to 'elevate the powers of parliament'.

Economists Ayman Tursynkan and Mukhtar Tayžan, journalist Ermurat Bapi, political scientist Sanžar Bokaev, humanitarian activist Erlan Kaliev and independent observer Arajlym Nazarova will be among the most well-known independent candidates in the elections. According to Tursynkan, 'in order to realise the reforms, it is necessary to return the effective legislative function to the parliament, we want a true parliamentary republic'.

All members of the group express considerable scepticism about the real will of the current power to make reforms that are not just cosmetic. Commenting on the slogan of the 'new Kazakhstan' launched by President Tokaev, Tayžan says that 'this is the refrain invented by Nazarbaev's students, raised in the cult of the first president's personality, all members of his Nur Otan party'. Nazarova considers the recent changes to be 'a pile of dust in the eyes', so much so that in the elections, candidates not controlled from above can reach a maximum of 30 per cent, 'but it is not the case that we should sit on our hands'.

In Almaty, independents have also created the Altynšy Kantar (Six January) movement to commemorate the start of the popular protests in 2022, and the bloody repression that followed. It will be led by Nazarova together with lawyer Alnur Iljašev and journalists Dinara Egeubaeva and Duman Mukhammedkarim, who are among the most insistent in demanding transparency on the arrests at the time and the fate of the prisoners.

In the Mažilis, the lower house of parliament, a total of 107 seats are up for grabs: 29 in uninominal constituencies, with an average of 15 candidates for each. The seven officially admitted political parties, none of which can be considered opposition, present a total of 281 candidates. The mixed electoral system is one of the novelties of these elections, which anticipate the expiry of the legislature following the elections that re-elected Tokaev president at the end of last year.

The presidency argues that the enlargement of the nomination system is a clear sign of the course taken towards the full democratisation of Kazakh society. As the independents insist, this is not matched by the liberalisation of other institutions and mechanisms of the system, including the formation of electoral commissions and polling stations, where tellers are appointed from above, and no real freedom is left to observers.

• kazakhstan
• astana
• elections
• parliament
• independent
• tokaev