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 18 August 2007 to elected. President

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 ...

's ruling

Nur Otan Amanat (; ; officially stylized in all caps), previously known as Nur Otan (; ), is a Ruling party, ruling List of political parties in Kazakhstan, political party of Kazakhstan and the largest political association in the country, with around 8 ...

party received 88% of the vote and won all of the available seats (excluding the reserved 9-seat quota for the

Assembly of People of Kazakhstan The Assembly of People of Kazakhstan () is a national political body in Kazakhstan consisting of delegates of the Regional Assemblies of the People. Its task is to represent the various ethnic groups that make up the Central Asian state at nation ...

), as none of the six other parties contesting the election had managed to pass the 7%

electoral threshold The electoral threshold, or election threshold, is the minimum share of votes that a candidate or political party requires before they become entitled to representation or additional seats in a legislature. This limit can operate in various ...

to win seats.Party of Kazakh President Sweeps Seats in Parliament
The New York Times, 20 August 2007Kazakh poll gives all seats to Nazarbayev
Reuters, 20 August 2007

Background

On 19 June 2007 50 of the 77 deputies of the

Mäjilis The Mäjilis of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan (; ), commonly shortened as Mäjilis or Mazhilis ( Kazakh Cyrillic: Мәжіліс , 'Assembly'), is the lower house of the Parliament of Kazakhstan, alongside the upper house Senate ...

voted to request President

for the legislature to be dissolved after a ruling by the Constitutional Council from 18 June that the Mäjilis can dissolve itself only with the permission of the president despite the Kazakh Constitution allowing the parliament to do so in a

motion of no confidence A motion or vote of no confidence (or the inverse, a motion or vote of confidence) is a motion and corresponding vote thereon in a deliberative assembly (usually a legislative body) as to whether an officer (typically an executive) is deemed fi ...

. Nazarbayev accepted the request that same day and the Mäjilis was officially dissolved on 20 June. The move was criticized by several prominent opposition activists such as the chairman of Nationwide Social Democratic Party,

Zharmakhan Tuyakbay Zharmakhan Aitbaiuly Tuyakbay (, , ; born 22 November 1947) is a retired Kazakh politician. He was the chairman of the Nationwide Social Democratic Party from 2007 to 2019 and prior to that, he served as the Mäjilis chairman from 1999 to 20 ...

, who claimed that the a snap election gave little time to prepare for the polling day.

Electoral system

A total of 107 seats were at stake in the Majilis, an increase of 30, following

constitutional amendments A constitutional amendment (or constitutional alteration) is a modification of the constitution of a polity, organization or other type of entity. Amendments are often interwoven into the relevant sections of an existing constitution, directly alt ...

earlier in the year. Under the changes, 98 deputies were elected by party lists, an increase from just 10 in the previous parliament. The remaining nine seats were reserved for members elected by the

.Kazakhstan's political parties gear up for early elections
EurasiaNet, 20 June 2007

Conduct

The opposition Nationwide Social Democratic Party, which received almost 5% of the vote, denounced the election, and 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 ...

observers said the election showed some progress, but was also marred by problems, saying that "in over 40 percent of the polling stations visited, ote countingwas described as bad or very bad", which was worse than in the last parliamentary and presidential elections. Bias in the state media was also considered a problem.

Results

Notes

References

External links

Central Election Commission of the Republic of Kazakhstan

Elections of the Majilis 2007
Official CEC website {{Kazakhstani elections

Legislative A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers ...

Elections in Kazakhstan