03 April 2011 | 11:03

Advisor Yertysbayev voted without his ID card

Yermukhamet Yertysbayev. By Maksim Popov©

Advisor to the President Yermukhamet Yertysbayev has put the election commission in this polling station through an impartiality test, Tengrinews.kz reports. When given a blank ballot Yertysbayev asked the commission what kind of a mark he is supposed to put in the ballot to identify his choice. He was told to use a check mark. “So, I should place a check next to Nazarbayev’s name, right?” the presidential advisor asked. “Please check any name at your choice,” the commission’s answer was. Besides the test, the Political Advisor to the President created another fairly unusual situation in the polling station: he told the station’s commission that he left his ID card at home. The ID card is used for all kinds of operations and registrations inside the country, while the passport is usually reserved only for international operations and foreign travel. But this is more of a local habit, because legally the passport is equally valid inside Kazakhstan as it is outside. So when Yertysbayev said that has was only carrying a passport the commission did not send him home to fetch his ID card, but instead asked him to proceed for voting. Yertysbayev proceeded to the voting cabin, emerged from it in a couple of seconds and cast his ballot into the ballot box. He said that he came to vote in an excellent mood: “The sun is shining, the weather is great. I’ve recently been to Moscow – there is no sun there at all.” He said that he is not going to make any comments for the media today, “because any comments on the election day are prohibited.” Aslan Musin, head of the presidential administration, voted right after Yertysbayev.

Advisor to the President Yermukhamet Yertysbayev has put the election commission in this polling station through an impartiality test, Tengrinews.kz reports. When given a blank ballot Yertysbayev asked the commission what kind of a mark he is supposed to put in the ballot to identify his choice. He was told to use a check mark. “So, I should place a check next to Nazarbayev’s name, right?” the presidential advisor asked. “Please check any name at your choice,” the commission’s answer was. Besides the test, the Political Advisor to the President created another fairly unusual situation in the polling station: he told the station’s commission that he left his ID card at home. The ID card is used for all kinds of operations and registrations inside the country, while the passport is usually reserved only for international operations and foreign travel. But this is more of a local habit, because legally the passport is equally valid inside Kazakhstan as it is outside. So when Yertysbayev said that has was only carrying a passport the commission did not send him home to fetch his ID card, but instead asked him to proceed for voting. Yertysbayev proceeded to the voting cabin, emerged from it in a couple of seconds and cast his ballot into the ballot box. He said that he came to vote in an excellent mood: “The sun is shining, the weather is great. I’ve recently been to Moscow – there is no sun there at all.” He said that he is not going to make any comments for the media today, “because any comments on the election day are prohibited.” Aslan Musin, head of the presidential administration, voted right after Yertysbayev.