Local elections are set to be 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 19 March 2023 to elect a total of 3,415 seats to 223 mäslihats (local assemblies) across all regions of Kazakhstan. The local elections will be held alongside 2023 legislative elections and were held under the basis of

mixed-member majoritarian representation Mixed-member majoritarian representation (MMM) is type of a mixed electoral system combining winner-take-all and proportional methods, where the disproportional results of the winner-take-all part are dominant over the ''proportional'' compon ...

, which for the first time since

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

reinstated

single-member districts A single-member district or constituency is an electoral district represented by a single officeholder. It contrasts with a multi-member district, which is represented by multiple officeholders. In some countries, such as Australia and India ...

that were previously abolished in 2018. The local elections were initially announced by President

Kassym-Jomart Tokayev Kassym-Jomart Kemeluly Tokayev (born 17 May 1953) is a Kazakhstani politician and diplomat who has served as the second president of Kazakhstan since 2019. He previously served as Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, Prime Minister from 1999 to 2002 ...

during the State of the Nation Address on 1 September 2022. He then signed a presidential decree on 19 January 2023 which dissolved the tenure of all mäslihats and set the election date.

Background

The 2021 local elections were previously held under the newly 2018 implemented

party-list proportional representation Party-list proportional representation (list-PR) is a system of proportional representation based on preregistered Political party, political parties, with each party being Apportionment (politics), allocated a certain number of seats Apportionm ...

voting law, to which regional and district deputies were nominated by their respective parties as candidates within

electoral lists 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 s ...

while at the same time restricted independents from becoming deputies. From there, the ruling Nur Otan party (now Amanat) earned most of 3,083 seats in all levels of mäslihats (local assemblies), which was followed by the

Auyl People's Democratic Patriotic Party The Auyl Party (; lit. 'Aul, Village', , ') is a political party in Kazakhstan. It was originally founded by Gani Qaliev on 30 January 2000 before eventually merging with the Party of Patriots of Kazakhstan on 5 September 2015. The party is curre ...

(227 seats),

Aq Jol Democratic Party The Aq Jol (, ), officially the "Aq Jol" Democratic Party of Kazakhstan (, ) is a liberal-conservative political party in Kazakhstan. The Aq Jol is led by Azat Peruaşev, a deputy of the Mäjilis. The Aq Jol party was formed in early 2002, after ...

(224 seats) and

Adal Adal may refer to: *A short form for Germanic names in ''aþala-'' (Old High German ''adal-''), "nobility, pedigree"; see Othalan ** Adál Maldonado (1948–2020), Puerto Rican artist ** Adal Ramones (born 1969), Mexican television show host ** A ...

(24 seats). During legislative tenure of mäslihats, a share of deputies affiliated with ruling Amanat party slightly increased due to its merger with the Adal in April 2022, to which all Adal's control of 24 mandates were fully submerged to the Amanat. In the aftermath of the

2022 Kazakh unrest The 2022 Kazakh unrest, also known as January Events, Bloody January, or the January Tragedy, was a series of Political demonstration, mass protests and Civil disorder, civil unrest that began in Kazakhstan on 2 January 2022 after a sudden ...

, President

in his March 2022 State of the Nation Address unveiled a series of reforms regarding changes to the structure of mäslihats by granting them more decision-making powers and localised influence, including the implementation of a

mixed electoral system A mixed electoral system is one that uses different Electoral system, electoral systems to elect different seats in a legislature. Most often, this involves a First Past the Post combined with a Proportional representation, proportional component ...

. Following a

constitutional referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a direct vote by the electorate (rather than their representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either binding (resulting in the adoption of a new policy) or advis ...

in a September 2022 State of the Nation Address, Tokayev announced a

snap election A snap election is an election that is called earlier than the one that has been scheduled. Snap elections in parliamentary systems are often called to resolve a political impasse such as a hung parliament where no single political party has a ma ...

for mäslihat deputies to take place in the first half of 2023 in parr with the

legislative elections 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 ...

. He also noted that the local electoral system would be held under a new mechanism that included a return of

within the mäslihat compositions. After being reelected in November 2022, President Tokayev on 19 January 2023 signed a decree in officially dissolving the functions in all levels of mäslihats and scheduling the snap election date for 19 March.

References

{{Kazakhstan elections

Local Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Local'' (comics), a limited series comic book by Bria ...

Elections in Kazakhstan March 2023 in Kazakhstan

Background

See also

References