Kazakhstan's CEC recognizes Senate elections as valid
By Aynur Jafarova
The Central Election Commission (CEC) of Kazakhstan has recognized the Senate elections held on October 1 as valid.
CEC Chairman Kuandyk Turgankulov said 16 candidates have been elected as Senators.
"Some 16 deputies were elected to the Senate of the Parliament... The elections were recognized as valid in all regions of the country. Polls, as well as all election procedures were held in a calm atmosphere in accordance with the electoral legislation. Turnout of voters stood at 98.7 percent in the whole country - 3,236 electors from 3,279 included in the lists participated in the elections," he noted.
There is one woman among the elected members of the Senate. The average age of deputies of the Senate is 56. There are seven engineers, four farmers, two economists, two teachers and one lawyer among them.
Turgankulov also added the elections processes and counting of votes were observed by 387 observes, including authorized representatives of candidates, representatives of political parties, public associations and media outlets of the country.
The representatives of the CEC of Azerbaijan, who observed the elections in Kazakhstan, said the Senate elections were carried out without any violations.
"We have witnessed an open, transparent and democratic electoral process. I can confidently say that we have not noticed any violations that could affect the election results. Therefore, I congratulate the people of Kazakhstan and the elections organizers on the successful holding of the votes," Deputy Chairman of the Azerbaijani CEC Natig Mammadov said.
Coordinator of the International Observers' group from the Interparliamentary Assembly of CIS Member States Farhad Rahimov praised the elections as "honest, open and transparent."
There are 47 deputies in Kazakh Senate, 15 of them are appointed directly by the president, and the rest 32 (local representatives) are elected by people through elections. Senators are elected for a six-year term. Every three years, some 16 Senators are re-elected. The last elections of Kazakh Senate was held in 2011.