Election Access Reserved for Select Monitors

Election observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, OSCE, have arrived in Kazakstan ahead of the August 18 parliamentary polls, but NBCentralAsia observers say the authorities will not be letting in many other international monitors.



From July 12, the OSCE observers will start monitoring the election campaign for seats in the lower house of parliament or Majilis.



The nomination period for candidates was June 22 to July 11, and formal campaigning will last from July 18 until midnight on August 16.



These elections are being held under new election legislation passed on June 19 and constitutional amendments introduced in late May, and involve proportional representation based on party lists. The changes should result in a stronger parliament with more members.



President Nursultan Nazarbaev’s Nur Otan party dominates the political scene and is widely expected to win 80 or 90 per cent of the seats.



NBCentralAsia observers predict that the scope of election monitoring will be limited by the new and more restrictive legislation, which only allows foreign observers and journalists to attend the polls if they have been expressly invited by the Central Electoral Committee or the Kazak foreign ministry.



NBCentralAsia analyst Petr Svoik says the new election law makes it impossible for international election monitoring organisations other than the OSCE to send missions to Kazakstan.



“The mechanisms for monitoring have clearly been tightened… That means that even the observation process will be regulated by the administration,” he said.



Kazakstan has a vested interest in winning favour with the OSCE because it is bidding to chair the organisation in 2009. A decision on its application has been already postponed once amid disagreements among member states, and the final call is expected to made at the end of this year.



Russia and Germany are backing Kazakstan, while Britain and the United States say the country is not ready to take over the chairmanship.



Human rights activist Yevgeny Zhovtis argues that no restrictions should be placed on who can and cannot observe elections.



“If a country wishes to hold free and fair elections, it creates the preconditions in which a healthy political competition can take place,” he said.





(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)