Almaty, August 24 (AJP) -Kazakhstan's ruling Adilet party swept to a landslide victory with 71.17 percent of the vote in preliminary results from Sunday's parliamentary election, far ahead of its rivals in the country's first vote for the new single-chamber Kurultai.
The Central Election Commission said Monday that Adilet received 6,528,948 votes.
Auyl came a distant second with 6.26 percent, followed by Respublica with 5.56 percent, Ak Zhol with 5.21 percent and the Nationwide Social Democratic Party with 5.11 percent.
The five cleared the 5 percent threshold required to win representation in the 145-member Kurultai.
The People's Party of Kazakhstan received 3.11 percent and the Baitaq Green Party 1.0 percent, falling below the threshold. Another 2.51 percent of voters chose the "against all" option.
Adilet finished 64.91 percentage points ahead of Auyl. The other four parties that crossed the threshold were grouped closely between 5.11 percent and 6.26 percent.
The final distribution of the Kurultai's 145 seats has yet to be announced.
Turnout stood at a preliminary 74.08 percent, with 9,351,539 of 12,623,289 registered voters taking part, according to the CEC.
That was nearly 20 percentage points higher than the 54.21 percent turnout in Kazakhstan's 2023 parliamentary election.
A new parliament
Sunday's election was the first parliamentary vote under Kazakhstan's new Constitution, approved in a nationwide referendum on March 15. It took effect on July 1.
The change ended about three decades of a two-chamber parliament under the system established in 1995.
The former Senate and lower-house Mazhilis have been replaced by the Kurultai, a single chamber with 145 deputies serving five-year terms.
The way lawmakers are elected has also changed.
In 2023, 69 Mazhilis members were elected through party lists and 29 from individual districts, where independent candidates could also run.
This time, all Kurultai members are elected through party lists under proportional representation in one nationwide constituency.
Kazakhstan's party system also changed ahead of the election.
Adilet was established earlier this year and absorbed Amanat, the country's long-dominant ruling party, in June. Amanat won 53.90 percent of the party-list vote in the 2023 election.
The two results cannot be directly compared because both the election system and the parties have changed.
But the merger meant Adilet entered its first national election with much of Amanat's existing political base behind it.
The seven parties differed over what to focus on, but their campaigns broadly shared promises of economic growth, national development and better living standards.
Adilet focused on stronger government institutions, law and order and economic growth.
Auyl emphasized farming, food security and rural development. Respublica focused on entrepreneurs and private business, while Ak Zhol stressed business conditions and stronger parliamentary oversight.
The Social Democrats put more weight on labor rights and social protection.
For some voters, however, the question was much simpler - whether the new parliament could make daily life better.
"I voted with the hope that the incoming parliament would put jobs and the cost of living at the top of its agenda," said Anastassia Akhmetova, a 25-year-old office worker.
Akhmetova said people wanted to see and feel real change in their everyday lives.
Yerjan, a 27-year-old taxi driver, said he did not vote because his work schedule left him little time to go to a polling station.
He said he nevertheless hoped the election would help Kazakhstan move in a better direction.
Regional observers back election process
The Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic States, or TURKPA, called the election an important step in Kazakhstan's political development, noting that it was the first parliamentary vote under the new single-chamber system.
Its observers said voting was orderly at the polling stations they visited and that voters were able to cast their ballots in secret and without interference.
TURKPA also praised steps taken to make voting easier for people with disabilities and Kazakh citizens living abroad.
Its representatives highlighted the use of technology, including artificial intelligence, saying some of Kazakhstan's practices could be useful for other Turkic states.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization also gave a positive assessment.
The SCO said its 17 observers from six member states visited 120 polling stations in Astana and the nearby Akmola Region before and during election day.
The mission said it received no complaints or objections on election day and saw no violations that it believed could have affected the result.
Observers also noted families and younger voters arriving at polling stations despite periods of rain on Sunday.
The election has also drawn attention from Kazakhstan's neighbors.
Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov congratulated President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and the Kazakh people on the election, saying he was confident the new Kurultai would help strengthen Kazakhstan's state institutions and support its economic and social development.
Japarov also expressed hope that the Kyrgyz-Kazakh strategic partnership would continue to deepen in the interests of peace, stability and development across Central Asia.
The comments come as Central Asian countries work more closely on trade, transport, energy and water.
Kazakhstan plays a major role in many of those efforts because of its size, economy and location between China, Russia and the rest of Central Asia.
Kazakhstan's foreign policy remains largely led by the presidency.
The Kurultai, however, will vote on laws and budgets that can support trade, infrastructure and agreements with other countries.
That gives the new parliament a role in how Kazakhstan carries out both its domestic plans and its cooperation with neighboring countries.
For now, the first test will be at home. Adilet enters the new system with an overwhelming lead, while four much smaller parties have also crossed the threshold for seats.
One question will be whether those parties can turn their different priorities into real debate inside the Kurultai.
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