KAZAKHSTAN: Ruling Nur Otan party convenes ahead of snap parliamentary elections called by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev

Record ID: 858878

  • Title: KAZAKHSTAN: Ruling Nur Otan party convenes ahead of snap parliamentary elections called by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev
  • Date: 26th November 2011
  • Summary: ASTANA, KAZAKHSTAN (RECENT) (REUTERS) ASTANA SQUARE
  • Embargoed: 11th December 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan
  • City:
  • Country: Kazakhstan
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAEDNL9YPWLKZJILPO9HRGNZJ7M
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  • Story Text: Kazakhstan's ruling Nur Otan, supporting President Nursultan Nazarbayev presented a list of candidates for parliamentary election at its congress on Friday (November 25) with prominent politicians, actors and sportsmen named among them.
    Nur Otan members occupy 98 of the 107 seats in the lower house of parliament, or Mazhilis. The other nine deputies are chosen by the People's Assembly of Kazakhstan, a consultative body loyal to the president.
    The snap parliamentary vote on Jan. 15-16 is designed to equip authorities to withstand a looming global financial crunch and add democratic sheen to a country where Western monitors have never judged an election free and fair.
    To rapturous applause at a pre-election Nur Otan party congress, Nazarbayev recited a long list of social and economic achievements during 20 years of independence and said the party only needs victory.
    "The January 15 parliamentary elections will be the moment of truth for our future. I am sure that Kazakh citizens will support our Nur Otan party. We at Nur Otan only need victory. We need it to continue our programmes and to further improve the well-being of our citizens," Nazarbayev said addressing Nur Otan party members on Friday.
    Dariga Nazarbayeva, the eldest daughter of Kazakh president who once ran against her father in a parliamentary election, was nominated among the candidates from which the dominant Nur Otan party will choose its deputies after a January election it is almost certain to win.
    President Nazarbayev has ruled Kazakhstan, a mainly Muslim country of 16.6 million, since before independence in 1991 and tolerated little dissent or opposition on a path to building his oil-producing nation into the biggest economy in Central Asia.
    Foreign investors routinely cite the uncertainty around who will eventually succeed Nazarbayev as the single biggest risk to stability in a country which mines more uranium than any other and holds 3 percent of the world's recoverable oil reserves.
    While the nomination of Nazarbayeva is a nod to her political comeback, analysts said it would be premature to conclude that she was being groomed as a successor to her father -- a once-popular theory that carries little credence today.
    The election will dilute Nur Otan's monopoly by admitting at least a nominal opposition presence to the chamber.
    Parties will choose deputies after the election, when it becomes clear how many seats will be allocated to each. Nur Otan published its candidate list on its website.
    Not every member on the list can become a deputy. Nur Otan nominated 127 people on a list that includes famous sportsmen, artists and singers among established politicians and influential officials such as Almaty mayor Akhmetzhan Yesimov.
    Competing parties in the election must win at least 7 percent of the vote to secure seats in the legislature, but changes to electoral law will guarantee a handful of seats for the second-placed party even it it falls short of the threshold.
    Many analysts expect the second-placed party to be widely sympathetic to Nur Otan, posing no direct challenge to the established leadership of the former Soviet republic.
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