Adal (), known as Birlik () until 2020, was a

centre-right Centre-right politics lean to the Right-wing politics, right of the Left–right politics, political spectrum, but are closer to the Centrism, centre. From the 1780s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure a ...

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 was formed as a result of merger between

Rukhaniyat Party The Rukhaniyat Party was a political party in Kazakhstan. At the legislative elections, 19 September and 3 October 2004, the party won 0.4% of the popular vote and no seats. In the 18 August 2007 Assembly elections, the party won again 0.4% of t ...

and

Democratic Party Adilet Democratic Party Adilet (; DPA) was a political party in Kazakhstan that existed from 2004 to 2013 and was led by chairman Tolegen Sydykhov. The party was founded as the Democratic Party of Kazakhstan on 29 April 2004. The Adilet numbered around 70 ...

on 26 April 2013. The party is led by Serik Sultangali, a Kazakh businessman and has a membership of over 300,000 people as of 2021. Since its creation, the Adal has participated in every parliamentary election, often taking last place in terms of vote share and has not never nominated a presidential candidate for the elections. On April 26, 2022, the Amanat and Adal parties merged. The party positioned itself as a pro-government by maintaining its support for continued nationwide reforms and called for large-scale modernisation of all spheres of society based on the principles of justice for people, accountability of government and competitiveness of business.

History

On 26 April 2013, the two parties Adilet and Rukhaniyat made a decision to merge with each other to form Birlik (meaning Unity). At the 2nd Birlik Extraordinary Congress held on 5 February 2016, the party announced its intention to run for the 2016 legislative elections and from there, approved an eight-point electoral programme under the slogan: ''"Clean intentions, clean actions, clean environment."'' At the elections, the Birlik won 0.29% of the vote, failing to reach the 7%

electoral threshold The electoral threshold, or election threshold, is the minimum share of the primary vote that a candidate or political party requires to achieve before they become entitled to representation or additional seats in a legislature. This limit can ...

, thus unable to win any seats in the Mazhilis. The party never nominated its candidate for the

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

or 2019 presidential elections. It was revealed that the party in March 2020 proposed to merge with the

Auyl People's Democratic Patriotic Party The "Auyl" People's Patriotic Democratic Party (, ''«Auyl» Halyqtyq-demokratialyq patriottyq partiasy''; AHDPP) or simply as "Auyl" HDPP, is a political party in Kazakhstan. It was originally founded by Gani Qaliev on 30 January 2000 as the "Auy ...

in which was rejected on 9 September 2020, according due to Birlik's low political activity and its platforms of which weren't changed in years. In response to the refusal, chairman Serik Sultangali stated that the party would continue functioning independently, noting that a new congress of Birlik would be held in near future that would amend the party's platforms, change the organisational structure with the political executive committee of the party, and would include new members. At the 5th Extraordinary Congress held on 30 September, the party amended its charter which granted more powers to the chairman in an attempt to ensure "faster decision-making". It also allowed for the Birlik political council to elect an executive secretary, in case of the termination of party leader's powers, to ensure the inter party election of a new chairman. On 5 November 2020, at the political council of Birlik, the party announced its decision rename itself into Adal (meaning Honesty) due to an experiment carried out by sociologists in which the variant "Adal" was preferred more. The party was re-registered by the

Ministry of Justice A Ministry of Justice is a common type of government department that serves as a justice ministry. Lists of current ministries of justice Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Justice (Abkhazia) * Ministry of Justice (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Just ...

on 11 November. Shortly after Adal's rebranding, party chairman Serik Sultangali reported that more than 5,000 persons have joined the party's rank. At the 19th Adal Ordinary Congress, the party unveiled its electoral programme for the 2021 legislative elections of which were: ''a dignified life for all citizens, entrepreneurship is the basis of a successful state, development of the agro-industrial complex and food security, strong regions–a strong country, and a state for people''. The Adal unveiled its list of proposed 20 MP's at a party list which included businesspeople, public figures, ecologists and statesmen. Due to the party's high activity on social media during the campaign, some viewed that the Adal might take second place in terms of vote share in the elections in spite of having of being having low ratings according to Kazakh state-sponsored polls. In result of the January 2021 Mazhilis elections, the Adal nevertheless took last place amongst other parties although it did slightly improve in terms of voter percentage share. According to the party member Oljas Ordabaev, the Adal would continue working systematically with the äkımats ''(local executive branches)'' and other organisations, claiming that the party would plan to come back "fully armed" in a next legislative election. During that period, it was revealed that membership of the party increased from 53,000 to more than 311,000 people. On 26 April 2022, it merged with the Amanat party, thereby ceasing to exist.

Ideology

In a ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

'' interview, party chairman Serik Sultangali proclaimed that the Adal is a

party that positions itself for "a large-scale modernisation of all spheres of society on the principles of justice for people, accountability of power and competitiveness of business" that with its platforms would seek to compete with the

and

Ak Zhol Democratic Party The Aq Jol Democratic Party ( kz, Ақ жол Демократиялық Партиясы, translit=Aq Jol Demokratialyq Partiasy, russian: Демократическая партия Казахстана «Ак жол», Demokraticheskaya partiya ...

. Although the party had no clear and formulated ideology in its early years, it ran on a platform that was focused on the environment and social sphere during the 2016 legislative elections. It positioned itself as a social justice party whose policy is aimed at protecting people from arbitrariness, creating equal starting opportunities for all Kazakhstanis, regardless of their social, national and religious background and expressed support of a

social market economy The social market economy (SOME; german: soziale Marktwirtschaft), also called Rhine capitalism, Rhine-Alpine capitalism, the Rhenish model, and social capitalism, is a socioeconomic model combining a free-market capitalist economic system alon ...

and President

Nursultan Nazarbayev Nursultan Abishuly Nazarbayev ( kk, Нұрсұлтан Әбішұлы Назарбаев, Nūrsūltan Äbişūlı Nazarbaev, ; born 6 July 1940) is a Kazakh politician and military officer who served as the first President of Kazakhstan, in off ...

's proposed five institutional reforms. During the

2016 Aktobe shootings The 2016 Aktobe shootings were a spate of shootings on civilian and military targets in Aktobe, Kazakhstan, in June 2016. On 5 June, two attacks occurred at gun stores, while a third attack was aimed at a military unit. Multiple shootouts between ...

, the Birlik condemned the incident that occurred within the city, calling it "an extreme manifestation of cynicism and cruelty" that is not connected towards "pious religious beliefs of believers" in regards to

Islamic fundamentalism Islamic fundamentalism has been defined as a puritanical, revivalist, and reform movement of Muslims who aim to return to the founding scriptures of Islam. Islamic fundamentalists are of the view that Muslim-majority countries should return t ...

. At the 19th Adal Ordinary Congress, the party revealed its electoral platforms which aimed at raising the minimum wage to livable standards while at the same time easing government regulations for businesses by introducing moratorium on tax increases until 2025 and ending mandatory pension contributions and payments for micro and small businesses. The Adal also called for the development of local government as well as rural areas, improvements in environment and expressed its support to provide

universal health care Universal health care (also called universal health coverage, universal coverage, or universal care) is a health care system in which all residents of a particular country or region are assured access to health care. It is generally organized ar ...

and

free education Free education is education funded through government spending or charitable organizations rather than tuition funding. Many models of free higher education have been proposed. Primary school and other comprehensive or compulsory education is fr ...

for all citizens.

Electorate

Based on the party's ideology and electoral platforms, it has often been compared with the

, with the contrast being that Adal is viewed to be more supportive towards the interests of small and medium sized businesses amongst entrepreneurs and that the party's support base would be reliant on towards urban middle class citizens such as office workers, self-employees, officials, and skilled workers. Adal has also been seen to attract rural voters by including several agricultural businesspersons in the party's Political Council.

Electoral history

Mazhilis elections

References

{{Political parties in Kazakhstan Political parties established in 2013 Political parties disestablished in 2022 Political parties in Kazakhstan Ecosocialist parties 2013 establishments in Kazakhstan