Elections
Law
The challenge
that faced Kazakhstan’s developing democracy
on 19th September was to demonstrate that it was possible, just
fifteen years since the collapse of communism, to establish the institutions
and the environment for a free and fair election in one of the
largest
and least populated countries in the world.
The 2004 Majilis election was the first to be conducted in Kazakhstan
under the new Elections Law using election procedures and systems,
including pilot schemes for electronic voting, that have been developed
in close coordination with the OSCE’s Office for Democratic
Institutions and Human Rights. ODIHR’s Needs
Assessment Mission Report of 21-24th June,
its Interim
Report on Preparations for the Election
and its Evaluation of the Elections Law of August
and June respectively, are published on this website.
The 1999 parliamentary elections, which occurred under the auspices
of an early version of the Elections Law that was widely criticized,
were judged by the OSCE to have fallen short of the required standard.
The Central Election Commission has therefore adopted since 2001
a rigorous approach to the preparations for the 2004 elections,
working with the widest possible spectrum of civil and parliamentary
groups
to create a legal framework for the conduct of the election campaign
that would conform to international standards.
After a long and vigorous
debate lasting nearly three years, the Majilis voted for the amended
Elections Law in April 2004. Details
of the process undertaken by the CEC, in association with Parliament,
civil society and the OSCE, is explained in the Report
by the Central Election Commission of Kazakhstan of April 2004. A
short briefing on the amended Elections Law may be found by clicking
on this link.
At the beginning of September 2004, the Commission
published the full text of an independent scrutiny of the Elections Law of
2004 commissioned by the Kazakhstan Senate from one of Great Britain’s
leading international law experts, Professor Christopher Greenwood,
QC. In it, Professor Greenwood stated that the law was capable,
if faithfully and properly implemented, of producing elections
that
would comply with the Copenhagen Principles of the Organisation
for Security and Co-operation in Europe, 1990.
He also stated that he
believed that most of the recommendations made by the OSCE/ODIHR
following the 1999 elections had now been
implemented "and that progress made in these respects has
been remarkable in a State which had no tradition of democratic
elections
before 1990." The text of Professor
Greenwood’s Opinion is
published in full on this website.
The
Central Election Commission is satisfied that the new Elections Law has shown itself to be capable of responding to the stresses
and strains of a vigorous election campaign. The vote, in all
its technical complexity, unfolded without serious mishaps in most
parts
of the country and the result has been endorsed by the OSCE.
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