Majority of Kazakhstan citizens will vote for Nur Otan: poll

According to the results of the research held by the Institute of Strategic Research, over 64 percent of Kazakhstan citizens are going to vote for Nur Otan party at the coming parliamentary elections, Interfax-Kazakhstan reports. “Nur Otan is a doubtless leader, 64.3 percent of citizens will vote for it,” head researcher of the Insstitute Irina Chernykh said on November 23 in Almaty. According to her, Ak Zhol party is second in the list: 4.7 percent of voters are ready to vote for it. Opposition party Azat is expeceted to get 3.3 percent of votes and 2.5 percent of citizens will vote for Kazakhstan Patriots party, according to the survey. The respondents were also aked which party they would like to see in the parliament apart from Nur Otan. “The highest number of citizens, around 40 percent of respondents, replied that a new party with fresh ideas and alternatives should be created,” Chernykh said. According to her, this is explained by the fact that the majority of parties in Kazakhstan “are more or less working on political or ideological field of Nur Otan party”. The poll covered 1,000 respondents in all 14 oblasts of Kazakhstan, as well as in Almaty and Astana cities. Early Majilis elections via party lists have been set for January 15, 2012. The elections of Majilis deputies elected by Kazakhstan People's Assembly will take place on January 16, 2012. Maslikhat (local representative authorities) elections will be held at the same time as the parliamentary elections. According to the legislation, Majilis is made of 107 deputies, 98 of them are elected via party lists and 9 of them are delegated by Kazakhstan People's Assembly.