KAZAKHSTAN: MAZHILIS ELECTION ROUNDUP, AUGUST 17

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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.

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PRESIDENT NAZARBAYEV ON ELECTIONS
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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."

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NATIONAL SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY CAMPAIGN
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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)

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TELEVISION DEBATES
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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

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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.

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ELECTION COVERAGE ON THE RADIO
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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)

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SURVEYS
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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.

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ODIHR INTERIM REPORT AND CEC RESPONSE
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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

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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.

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REPORTS OF OTHER OBSERVERS
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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)

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VOTER LISTS
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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