Azat Republican Party of Kazakhstan ( en, Freedom) is an unregistered

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

that is led by Chairman Toleubek Karamendin. It was one of the most active of the political movements during the struggle for Kazakhstan's independence. However, once this was achieved, however its membership reduced considerably with some going to the Azamat movement and others to the Republican party. A new law on political parties which came into force on 19 July 2002 required existing political parties to undergo state re-registration within the subsequent six months. Perhaps as a result of this, the Republican Party, the Azamat (''Citizen'') party and the People's Congress of Kazakhstan united into the United Democratic Party.

The most powerful Kazakh organization is the citizens movement "Azat" (Freedom). Azat was the most active of all political movements during the struggle for Kazakhstan's independence; after the achievements of this the number of Azat members shrunk considerably. Today it is divided into the Azat movement (united with Zeltoksun) and the Republican party of Kazakhstan. The latter is more loyal to Nazarbaev's regime, while the former accuses the regime of conducting "anti-Kazakh" policies. However, these parties are poorly organized, do not have their views represented in solid periodicals on a regular basis and do not enjoy support of either the state or businessmen.

Jarig Bakker, 11 December 1998

References

1991 establishments in Kazakhstan Political parties established in 1991 Political parties in Kazakhstan Pro-independence parties in the Soviet Union {{Kazakhstan-party-stub