Communication Ministry to ensure all candidates have equal access

Nursultan Nazarbayev has tasked the Ministry of Communication and Information with ensuring that all the presidential candidates have equal access to the media outlets, Tengrinews.kz reports referring to the presidential press-service. Each of the candidates must have equal opportunity to use his right to be broadcasted on the radio and TV and widely publicize his election platform, Nursultan Nazarbayev insists. In his speech at the meeting with his election campaign team Nursultan Nazarbayev also said that the elections should be monitored and subject to social control. “We are an open country. Thanks to the chairmanship in the OSCE and the OSCE Summit in Astana we have gained new friends, including among heads of states. I am instructing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to invite the interested international organizations, political and social associations and media representatives to monitor the elections,” he is quoted by the press-service as saying. He also noted that explaining of the future development strategies and key priorities to the population would be more important during the election campaign rather than to organize mass agitation events. These strategies and priorities are set forth in his recent State of the Union Address to the people of Kazakhstan and in the 2020 Strategic Plan.