KAZAKHSTAN: MAZHILIS ELECTION ROUNDUP, AUGUST 17

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ASTANA 002239 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV OSCE KZ SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN: MAZHILIS ELECTION ROUNDUP, AUGUST 17 ¶1. (U) This is the seventh and final cable in a series of weekly election roundups in advance of Kazakhstan's August 18 Mazhilis and Maslikhat elections. Items were drawn primarily from the local press and media. The official campaign season closed at midnight on August 16. -------------- PRESIDENT NAZARBAYEV ON ELECTIONS -------------- ¶2. (U) On August 15 President Nazarbayev urged his fellow citizens to take part in the August 18 elections. He underscored the importance of these elections as a test of the country's democratic maturity. "The election on August 18 will become the final stage of the constitutional reform and a starting point for a new political history of Kazakhstan." Nazarbayev also warned against any attempts to use the elections for destabilization of the situation in Kazakhstan. (www.akorda.kz. 08-15-07) ¶3. (U) On August 16 President Nazarbayev gave an interview to the Russian television station Vesti in which he urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to ignore foreign criticism, change Russia's constitution, and stay on as leader. In the interview, he said "I don't understand why the Russian president has to finish his presidency and leave. You know, you can look and listen to what they say abroad and in Europe, and I have been listening for 15 years. They can say anything, but a president should do what his people and his state need. When your people assess your work, the results are all, the rest is rubbish." -------------- NATIONAL SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY CAMPAIGN -------------- ¶4. (U) On August 7 leaders of the National Social Democratic Party (NSDP) Bulat Abilov and Amirzhan Kosanov held a press conference in Almaty to brief journalists about their election campaign, alleging that state television and state newspapers have become the Nur Otan mass media, considering their disproportionate positive coverage of Nur Otan. Moreover, according to Abilov, the NSDP has not been offered appropriate places for their party billboards: several places offered were well outside the city. Abilov also announced the party's plan to file a lawsuit against the Prosecutor General's office, which found that the party television commercial called "One Country - Two Fortunes" and cited social discord. "We are not inciting any discord. We showed poverty in our rich country. It really exists in the country," Abilov said. (Interfax, August 7) ¶5. (U) Having examined a complaint by the NSDP, the Prosecutor General's office recommended that the editorial board of the Kazakhstanskaya Pravda daily follow the requirements of the Constitution and the law. The Prosecutor General's letter to the editor-in-chief of the newspaper stated that "the editorial staff has edited an interview with Zharmakhan Tuyakbay by deleting some sentences from the original text having no legal grounds or permits from the candidate." The NSDP is satisfied by the Prosecutor General's response to their complaint. On August 6 the chief of the NSDP headquarters, Oraz Zhandosov, addressed a letter to Kazakhstanskaya Pravda asking the newspaper to publish the initial version of the interview. (Interfax, August 6) -------------- TELEVISION DEBATES -------------- ¶6. (U) On August 9, Channel 31 recorded and broadcast a debate between representatives of Nur Otan and the NSDP. Bulat Abilov and Oraz Zhandosov represented NSDP and Chairman of Kazyna Fund Kayrat Kelimbetov and Minister of Culture and Information Yermukhamet Yertysbayev represented Nur Otan. The party representatives discussed political reforms, diversification of the economy, freedom of speech, the natural resources extraction industry, the National Fund revenues, the fight against corruption and the legalization of property. ¶7. (U) Though the debate was organized and moderated by Channel 31, the event took place in the studios of the government owned Kazakhstan TV company, because Channel 31 does not have such facilities in Astana. After the debate was recorded, Yertysbayev and his staff took control of the videotape, and did not return it to Channel 31 officials until shortly before the scheduled broadcast time. (Interfax Kazakhstan; NSDP press release, August 9) ¶8. (U) Channel 31 broadcast the debate nationwide on August 9 during prime time. Among other things, Yertysbayev and Kelimbetov accused the NSDP of being populist and promising unreasonable social ASTANA 00002239 002 OF 003 benefits, while Abilov and Zhandosov pointed to Kazakhstan's poor record of advancing political reform, protecting free speech, and fighting "systematic corruption." (Comment: The debate was a heated and open discussion between the party in power and the opposition, and was perhaps the first full-scale television debate in the history of Kazakhstani politics. End comment.) The recording of the debate was edited before broadcast to remove some of NSDP's criticisms of the government's tender of broadcasting licenses, and to insert remarks from commentators into the middle of the debate. The NSDP also accused Yertysbayev of using editing techniques to reduce the sound quality of the tape when the NSDP representatives were speaking. Yertysbayev denied that he did anything improper, and said that television companies are entitled to exercise their freedom of creative production. -------------- ELECTION COVERAGE ON THE RADIO -------------- ¶9. (U) Kazakh Radio completed its election campaign program, which was launched on July 31. Leaders of each party contesting the Mazhilis elections went on the air to discuss the political platform of their parties. During a 60-minute live broadcast, each leader answered questions received through the government web site. NSDP leader Zharmakhan Tuyakbay was the last to appear on the radio program. He discussed salary increase for physicians, teachers and scientists, and the education and healthcare aspect of his party's platform. (Kazakhstan TV, August 8) -------------- SURVEYS -------------- ¶10. (U) Nur Otan, the NSDP and Ak Zhol lead the election campaigning in terms of media coverage, Congress of Journalists representative Seytkazy Matayev announced at a press conference in Almaty on August ¶6. According to a survey conducted by the Congress, the three parties were more often cited in mass media than other parties. The survey was conducted from July 18 though August 4 and analyzed coverage in 26 newspapers, 8 TV channels and 17 Internet sites. During this period Nur Otan was cited in mass media 1345 times (30.8 per cent),the NSDP - 922 times (21 per cent) and Ak Zhol - 780 times (17.8 per cent). (Khabar and Interfax, August 6) ¶11. (U) On August 18, 75.1% of the electorate will vote for Nur Otan, the official Kazakhstanskaya Pravda daily reported on August 7, citing the results of a survey conducted by the Ksilon Astana CG company. The survey predicted that Ak Zhol will win 6.9%, the NSDP 3.4%, the People's Communist Party 3.1%, and the others less than 3%. According to the survey, 60 to 70% of the electorate will participate in the elections. Ksilon surveyed 1220 people from July 22 through July 30, but did not specify in which regions it conducted the poll. -------------- ODIHR INTERIM REPORT AND CEC RESPONSE -------------- ¶13. (U) On Thursday, August 9, ODIHR published its interim election monitoring report describing the election campaign as generally calm and low key. The report raised a number of concerns about Kazakhstan's election law, including the election of 9 deputies by the Assembly of People of Kazakhstan, which in ODIHR's view violates the OSCE standard requiring that at least one legislative body be chosen entirely through direct election by voters. As far as the conduct of the election campaign, the ODIHR observers reported no major violations of the law, though it reported a number of complaints by parties, including interference by local officials in campaign events and difficulty accessing advertising venues. The report stated that the media has generally presented the views of all political parties, though most news broadcasts are dominated by positive coverage of Nur Otan. The report also noted that the president called on citizens to vote for Nur Otan during his official visits to a number of cities, which is contrary to the law banning active campaigning by government officials during performance of their official duties. Finally, the report described the concerns of some political parties about possible fraud during the vote counting process. ¶14. (U) Though the ODIHR interim report was not conclusive and not overwhelmingly negative, the CEC on August 12 published a lengthy and forceful rebuttal of all points raised in the report. The CEC emphasized that President Nazarbayev did not violate the law by campaigning while performing official duties, because he has the right to act as Nur Otan's leader and he did not technically call for people to vote for a specific party. In addition, the CEC ASTANA 00002239 003 OF 003 denied that the election of nine deputies by the Assembly does not comply with international standards, referring to a number of international documents that allow countries to make special provisions for including ethnic minorities in legislative bodies. ¶15. (U) The CEC also rejected accusations that the NSDP campaign was hindered in the regions, stating that no government agencies have hindered any of the political parties. The CEC acknowledged that it received a number of complaints from the NSDP, but the majority of those were investigated and rejected as false. ¶16. (U) In addition, the CEC insisted that all political parties' campaigns were covered fairly and equally by the media, noting that frequency of media coverage depended on how active the parties were. The CEC supported the national television stations that refused to air certain NSDP TV ads, citing the Prosecutor General finding that the ads in question incited social discord. -------------- REPORTS OF OTHER OBSERVERS -------------- ¶17. (U) On August 14, the Republican Network of Independent Monitors (RNIM) publish the results of its long-term observations. The RNIM report echoed the main criticisms found in the ODIHR report, focusing on the illegitimacy of the Assembly of People of Kazakhstan election process in the participation of government officials, including high-level officials and the president, and the election campaign while performing their official duties. The RNIM also disagreed with the Prosecutor General on its assessment of the NSDP TV ads that were not aired by television stations, stating that they were not a call for action and thus cannot incite social discord. The RNIM noted several positive changes in this year's election campaign: good organization by the CEC, a very useful CEC website, greater voter awareness of elections, and the provision of additional TV and radio air time for parties. ¶18. (U) On August 15, the CIS election observation mission published its interim report, which assessed the election campaign as compliant with the law. The CIS report said that the process of electing deputies through the Assembly Of People of Kazakhstan complies with international standards, though the mechanism of such election requires further improvement (Interfax Kz. 08-15-07) -------------- VOTER LISTS -------------- ¶19. (U) A number of observers and the CEC itself admitted that voter lists were not yet completely accurate. To address this issue, the CEC established ad hoc information offices in oblast centers, Almaty, and Astana to help re-direct voters if they arrive to vote and cannot find their name on voter lists. The CEC publicly encouraged voters, through public service announcements and text messages, to verify their names in advance by visiting their polling place or the CEC website. ORDWAY