Kazakhstan’s General Prosecutor’s office speaks about provocations during elections

The General Prosecutor’s Office declared that the elections of the Majilis (lower chamber of the Parliament) and Maslikhats (local representative bodies) were held according to the requirements set in the Constitution and constitutional law “On the election in the Republic of Kazakhstan.” On January 16 the observing authority told about reviewed enquires received on the elections day, Tengrinews.kz reports. On 15 January the prosecutor’s office received 536 requests, 63 of them referred to the elections to the parliament's Majilis, and 472 – at elections to Maslikhats. Generally the information on violations was not verified during the checks, the General Prosecutor’s office reports. The official representative of the office gave examples of provocation and misinformation. “On the elections day there were messages from different sources about the cases of bulk drop of ballots into ballot boxes. Indeed, the checks confirm some instances of attempts of illegitimate interference in the elections procedure, including the mechanism of bulk ballot submission. As is confirmed now, this was a provocation,” the official representative of the General Prosecutor’s office Nurdaulet Suindikov declared. He gave an example: at one of the polling stations in Almaty a stranger submitted a bulk of ballots into the ballot box and at the attempt of the detention escaped the scene. “After the opening of the ballot box in the presence of witnesses, it was revealed that that the malefactor dropped fake ballots fixed by him in similar size and color rather as genuine ones,” Suindikov said. They report that the man later came voluntarily to the prosecutor’s office and explained that he wanted to test the vigilance of the members of the commission and observers. This case is being investigated. The prosecutor’s office also reported on revealed cases of misinformation during the elections. The head of “Ar.Ruk.Khak” public fund Bakhytzhan Turegozhina, according to Nurdaulet Suindikov, forwarded some messages to the prosecutor’s office and at the same time placed “a map of violations” in the Internet. The “map”, per Suindikov’s words, contained 300 requests, 296 have been reviewed by the prosecutor’s office within the same day. “281 cases or 95% with information on violations placed on the website, were not confirmed. Although the website’s hosts qualified these messages as observed cases of violations. Nevertheless, the checks revealed that in most cases deliberately untrue and frankly false messages were published on the website, Suindikov stated and brought up some concrete examples. These facts let us conclude that the website, presented as the independent observation source, was used to mislead with regard to the elections’ objectivity and transparency.” “The elections campaign and the elections day took place in a quite setting. There are no complaints and messages from public on cases preventing them from using their right to vote. Observation results during the elections allow to state that the elections of the deputies to the parliament’s majilis and maslikhats were conducted according to the requirements of the Constitution and the law “On the elections in the Republic of Kazakhstan,” the General Prosecutor’s office concluded.