Ambassador Idrissov briefed on recent parliamentary elections in Kazakhstan

12:33, 23 January 2012

WASHINGTON, DC. January 23. KAZINFORM In the spirit of openness and partnership, the Embassy of Kazakhstan continues to engage with the media to inform them on the ongoing events in Kazakhstan. Ambassador Erlan Idrissov held a news conference on January 18 at the National Press Club to brief the public on the recent Parliamentary elections and update on the Zhanaozen.

He highlighted that the elections were a great success. Seventy-five percent of those eligible to vote did so and Kazakhstan now has a multi-party legislature, which indicates a great movement in a right direction in terms of building political pluralism, strengthening rule of law and advanced democracy, the New Bulletin of the Kazakh Embassy to the US reads.

Ambassador Idrissov told the reporters that the elections and their outcome were proof that Kazakhstan had become a mature government. Many of the outside observers who watched the polling saw free and fair elections. That, in fact, is what they were.

The OSCE observers, as always, found some things to complain about. Ambassador Idrissov responded to questions about those complaints. The point was made that a Washington Post article of Jan 18 "Electoral 'Orchestration'" cited only the negative comments of that one organization.

Several other groups that witnessed the elections came to a different conclusion . They were full of praise for the conduct of the elections. An accusation of ballot stuffing turned out to be untrue after being carefully investigated. Even the residents of Zhanaozen, where the riots occurred last month, voted and in large numbers.

Ambassador Idrissov answered to many questions from the media and concluded by saying that "Kazakhstan is a developing democracy. It gets better at elections all the time. Kazakhstan's conduct of elections is better than it used to be and the elections this time around are proof of this constant improvement."

Diplomacy Elections