KAZAKHSTAN'S SENATE ELECTIONS BRING NO SURPRISES

UNCLAS ASTANA 001978 SIPDIS SENSITIVE STATE FOR SCA/CEN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM KZ SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN'S SENATE ELECTIONS BRING NO SURPRISES REF: ASTANA 1819 (NOTAL) ¶1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified. Not for public Internet. ¶2. (SBU) Kazakhstan's October 4 Senate elections passed with no surprises, with a landslide victory for the ruling Nur Otan party. Nur Otan-dominated regional and local maslikhats (legislatures) voted into office sixteen senators, one from each of the fourteen oblasts (regions) and the two largest cities, Astana and Almaty. As civil society observers and opposition leaders predicted, all those elected are from the ruling Nur Otan party (reftel). The Central Election Commission (CEC) declared the contest fully valid and released the preliminary results of the voting, although the formal count will not be come out until October 13. Five of the sixteen winners are incumbents, and the majority of the rest are high-ranking local government officials. The sole "opposition" candidate, a nominee from the Ak Zhol party (a party which is shunned by the other opposition parties as the government's pocket opposition),was not elected. As reported in reftel, the leading opposition parties boycotted the elections, claiming that Nur Otan's victory was all but assured. ¶3. (SBU) Despite an official media campaign aimed at raising the profile of the elections, the contest itself passed with little fanfare. While the government had invited international organizations and foreign missions to observe, only CIS countries -- including Azerbaijan, Belarus, and Uzbekistan -- sent election observers. In a press conference held on October 4, these observers predictably declared the elections to be free, fair, and transparent, and commended Kazakhstan for "getting closer to European and international standards." The Public Committee for Election Observation, a pro-government election observer NGO allegedly established to balance the views of independent observers, issued a similar press release, noting a significant improvement in the administration of elections, and in the openness and transparency of the CEC and lower-level election commissions. The one weak point noted by the Committee was lack of proper media coverage, a surprising observation considering the blitz campaign organized by the CEC in the election run-up. The independent NGO Republican Network of Independent Monitors also observed the elections and told us on October 6 that its review will be ready by next week. The leaders of the main opposition parties, having not participated in the contest, also chose to stay silent on the results. HOAGLAND