Legislative elections were held in

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

on 9 December 1995, with a second round on 23 December. The result was a victory for the People's Union of Kazakhstan Unity, which won 25 of the 67 seats. Voter turnout was 79.8%.Nohlen et al., p420

Background

In March 1994, the first post-independence general

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...

for the former unicameral Parliament took place. A year later, Kazakhstan's Constitutional Council invalidated this poll and declared the legislature illegal. President of the Republic

Nursultan Nazarbayev Nursultan Abishuly Nazarbayev (born 6 July 1940) is a Kazakhstani politician who served as the first president of Kazakhstan from 1991 to 2019. He also held the special title of Elbasy from 2010 to 2022 and chairman of the Security Council of ...

thereupon announced the dissolution of the Parliament and plans to rule by decree pending new elections. A majority of the 177 Deputies challenged the dissolution. On 30 August 1995, a new

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

providing, inter alia, for a smaller bicameral legislature was approved by

popular referendum A popular referendum, depending on jurisdiction also known as a citizens' veto, people's veto, veto referendum, citizen referendum, abrogative referendum, rejective referendum, suspensive referendum, and statute referendum,Maija SetäläReferend ...

. On 2 October, the President announced the December election dates.

Conduct

The overall conduct of the polling was overseen by the

Central Election Commission An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...

(OSK). According to it, 285 candidates (128 self-nominated, 157 registered to parties or public associations) ran for the 67 Mäjilis seats. As for the Senate, 49 candidates vied for the 40 elective seats, with 14 of the 20 constituencies being uncontested. There were a series of limitations on pre-election campaigning. The 9 December polling day for the Mäjilis was monitored by domestic and international observers and saw a reported turnout of over 79%. Observers from the

Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is a regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization comprising member states in Europe, North America, and Asia. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, the p ...

questioned this figure, citing a number of irregularities, including multiple voting by the same individual. At the end of the day, only 41 candidates were declared elected with the required thresholds. Two weeks later, on 23 December, another 13 Deputies were chosen. Finally, on 4 February 1996, the remaining 13 seats were filled. Of the opposition parties, many boycotted the poll.

Results

Aftermath

On 30 January the newly constituted Parliament met in joint session for the first time. The Council of Ministers was headed by

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Akezhan Kazhegeldin.

References

External links

Inter-Parliamentary Union Report on 1995 Kazakhstan ElectionsParliament of Republic of KazakhstanCentral Election Commission
{{Kazakhstan elections

Legislative election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. General elections ...

Elections in Kazakhstan Election and referendum articles with incomplete results