Five parties are projected to enter Kazakhstan’s new 145-member parliament according to early exit polls following the country's vote for its unicameral parliament on Sunday. Parties needed at least 5% of the vote to win seats in the new legislature. The election was Kazakhstan’s first parliamentary vote under the new Constitution, which replaced the bicameral Parliament with a single-chamber Kurultai.
Under the new electoral system, voters chose from seven political parties contesting the election. Unlike under the previous system, independent candidates could not run, with all Kurultai seats contested through party lists. The first exit poll, conducted by the Kazakhstan Institute of Public Development, put Auyl at 6.2%, Respublica at 5.2%, Ak Zhol at 5.1% and the Nationwide Social Democratic Party at 5%.
The People’s Party of Kazakhstan received 2.8%, while Baitaq got 0.9%. The poll projects 109 seats for Adilet, 12 for Auyl, 9 for Respublica, 8 for the Nationwide Social Democratic Party and 7 for Ak Zhol. The chair of the leading Adilet Party, Aibek Dadabay, thanked voters after the first exit poll results were released.
"During the election campaign, we visited all regions and met with thousands of people across the country. At every meeting, we heard directly about the issues that matter to people, as well as their views and suggestions. Every opinion matters to us.
All the proposals we received will be taken into account in our future work," he said. Assessing the preliminary results, Indira Aubakirova, Head of the Institute of Legislation and Legal Information, said Adilet had used all available platforms effectively, making its lead over the other parties very expected. "The People’s Party of Kazakhstan, to my surprise, received around 3%.
There could be several factors behind this. Firstly, the new generation is entering political life, and it no longer shares these views. At the same time, the natural decline of the older population is also having an impact, meaning that there are fewer," she said.
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