First Kazakh elections of district heads: has anyone noticed?

On Sunday Kazakhstan held its first ever elections of district heads. It was a campaign that went almost completely unnoticed.

Probably that’s exactly what the authorities wanted.

According to official information, more than 1,500 electoral commissions were involved, and nearly 63 percent of the approximately one million voters that were expected to be choosing their district heads did take part.

Also, officially, at every polling station there were at least five or six election observers and journalists.

Now to the results. There were 125 candidates contesting 45 district head positions. Out of the winners, 32 were already district heads before the elections, another ten were deputy district heads, and two others were acting district heads.

Of those 45 winners, 37 represented the ruling Amanat party, another five represented three other pro-government parties, and only two were allegedly self-nominated.

The event was practically ignored both by the state-run and independent, or almost independent, media.

If we remember the elections of village heads, of which we’ve had two rounds already — also as part of President Tokayev’s democratic reforms – they too went off without any fanfare.

Although, according to State Secretary Yerlan Karin, one of Tokayev’s key political advisers, the elections “drew much public interest”.

They were the first such elections held in Central Asia and thus, the president’s “political reforms are setting a new vector of regional political modernisation”, Karin said on his Telegram channel.

What about the civil activists? Why did no one try to run in the elections? There were only isolated attempts at election monitoring.

We could suspect official pressure to prevent their participation. However, to be fair, civil activism is something that hardly exists in district centres.

Another issue is the low level of political activity among voters. The official turnout figure sounds too good to be true.

Voters understand that their district heads, even if honestly elected, have too little real power. They have a humiliatingly limited budget, and the bosses above them, regional and higher, have enough leverage to control their activities.

Perhaps, when we get to elect regional governors and mayors of our big cities, society will come out of its comatose state and we will see more action.

By Maksat Nurpeisov

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