Permanent Mission of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the OSCE
S T A T E M E N T
by the First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan
H.E. Mr. Rakhat Aliyev at the 580th Meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council
(17 November 2005)
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Let me warmly welcome my good friends and distinguished colleagues and to say that it is a great pleasure to be in this hall again and meet all of you.
I would like to share with some information related to the forthcoming presidential elections attracting a huge interest in the OSCE community and drawing attention of many international organizations.
There are five candidates are claiming to take the highest state post – Erasyl Abylkassymov from the Communist Party, Alikhan Baimenov from “Ak Zhol” Party, Mels Eleussizov from ecological movement “Tabigat”, acting President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Zharmakhan Tuyakbai from the movement “For Just Kazakhstan”.
Kazakhstan authorities have sent invitations addressed to many international organizations, including the OSCE/ODIHR, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, CIS, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, European Parliament etc. to participate in observation of the elections in our country.
The Central Election Commission works in close contact with ODIHR Election Observation Mission and takes all necessary measures on implementation of our commitments in accordance with the Copenhagen Document.
On 9th of September, the President of Kazakhstan has signed the Decree "On measures on realization of voting rights of citizens of the Republic of Kazakhstan". The Decree sends directives to state authorities with a view to organize strict judicial oversight to ensure compliance with election legislation; timely compilation and verification of voter registration lists; equal access of candidates to news media during the campaign; accreditation of observers from foreign countries and international organizations.
I would like particularly stress that this new Presidential Decree makes the legislative basis of upcoming elections much more in full compliance to high OSCE criteria.
The Central Election Commission is holding regular meetings open to media and observers, and most Commission decisions are available on its website.
The Central Election Commission has adopted the OSCE/ODIHR recommendations regarding election process management, including holding open meetings and publication of election commissions’ decisions, giving the right of choice between electronic and paper voting as well as publication of the preliminary results by the election commissions at the Commission website.
Electronic voting will be used in approximately 15 % of the whole quantity of polling stations, which will serve about 32 % of all registered voters. Free choice between electronic voting and traditional voting by paper ballot will be offered to voters in these precincts. The electronic voting system has been redesigned since 2004 parliamentary elections. Essential parts, especially with regard to the voter interface have been changed. In upcoming elections, voters will use a touch-screen terminal to cast their votes, rather than the bar code readers used in 2004. The system allows voters to generate a random control number which control number will appear in the protocol next to the name of candidate for whom the votes have been counted. The control code is intended to enable the voter to check if his vote was correctly recorded.
As a manifestation of transparency and good will it could be considered a decision of Commission to give an opportunity to the OSCE/ODIHR Logistics Officer to check operational capabilities of electronic voting equipment, and a public demonstration of the electronic voting procedure for all diplomatic missions and international organizations, taken place in Astana on November 10th .
The legal framework governing the media campaign of the candidates is provided by the Election Law and by the Central Election Commission rules on conduct the campaign, adopted on 16th September by this distinguished body. Under the provisions of these documents, candidates and their proxies have the right to conduct unimpeded pre-election campaigns for or against candidate, and have access to the media. Media should provide an unbiased interpretation of the election campaign of candidates and must refrain from publishing information discrediting the honour, dignity and business reputation of any candidate.
I would like to inform the Permanent Council that there are five opposition newspapers are publishing in Kazakhstan at present day with overall weekly circulation of 910 thousand copies which conduct a quite aggressive agitation campaign in favour of their candidates.
During the whole official campaign candidates are entitled to have 15 minutes of free airtime on state television and 10 minutes on state radio, as well as two articles in the state-owned print media.
Candidates may also place paid political advertisements in the media, which are obliged to offer conditions on non-discriminatory basis. Representatives of 22 media outlets signed a charter “For Fair Elections” and committed themselves to provide fair and unbiased coverage of the election campaign and equal opportunities to all candidates to express their views.
Pre-electoral activities of every candidate are reported in absolutely equal time framework in daily news’ editions of the two state TV channels.
Today for the first time the direct TV debates of the presidential candidates will take place.
Mr. Chairman,
I would like to emphasize that improvement of the electoral mechanisms is an important element of the political reforms’ program implementing in Kazakhstan at present time.
Our approach is quite simple and clear. We strive to bring election legislation of Kazakhstan in full compliance with Copenhagen Document standards. In this regard Kazakhstan authorities carefully study all the ODIHR remarks and recommendations.
Let me also inform you that the Central Election Commission of Kazakhstan is intended to initiate amendments to the Elections Law which will eliminate prohibition to hold rallies and protest actions during the period from the end of pre-electoral agitation till the official publication of voting results.
In conclusion I would like to express the words of appreciation to Slovenian Chairmanship for proficient the OSCE guidance in the year 2005 and wish every success to the forthcoming Ministerial Council in Ljubljana.
Thank you.
