Local elections were held in

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 ...

on 10 January 2021 to elect in total of all 3,246 members of the 214 mäslihats ''(local assemblies)'' which included 489 regional members and 2,757 municipal members. This is the first election to take place under

party-list proportional representation Party-list proportional representation (list-PR) is a subset of proportional representation electoral systems in which multiple candidates are elected (e.g., elections to parliament) through their position on an electoral list. They can also be us ...

system that was enacted in 2018, giving political parties a role in local races and it coincided with the 2021 legislative elections. The ruling

Nur Otan Amanat (), previously known as Nur Otan () until 2022, is a big tent political party in Kazakhstan. Being the largest to date, it has been the ruling party of the country from 1999, with a membership claiming to be of over 762,000 people in 2007. ...

party swept a majority of 3083 local seats followed by 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 ...

(AUYL) with 268 and the

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 ...

with 267 and

People's Party of Kazakhstan The People's Party of Kazakhstan (abbr. QHP),, NPK originally the Communist People's Party of Kazakhstan (QKHP),, KNPK is a left-wing political party in Kazakhstan, currently led by Ermūhamet Ertısbaev. The Secretaries of the Central Committ ...

with 107 seats while the

Adal Adal may refer to: *A short form for Germanic names in ''aþala-'' (Old High German ''adal-''), "nobility, pedigree"; see Othalan **Adál Maldonado (1948-2020), Puerto Rican artist ** Adal Ramones (born 1969), Mexican television show host ** Adal ...

, which earned the fewest total votes of 2.1%, had managed to garner 24 seats in the

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

mäslihats by passing 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 ...

in some races.

Background

Throughout the history of Kazakhstan, local elections were

non-partisan Nonpartisanism is a lack of affiliation with, and a lack of bias towards, a political party. While an Oxford English Dictionary definition of ''partisan'' includes adherents of a party, cause, person, etc., in most cases, nonpartisan refers s ...

and the members were elected through

single-member A single-member district is an electoral district represented by a single officeholder. It contrasts with a multi-member district, which is represented by multiple officeholders. Single-member districts are also sometimes called single-winner vo ...

constituents. In 2018, the

Parliament of Kazakhstan The Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan ( kk, Қазақстан Республикасының Парламенті, Qazaqstan Respublikasynyñ Parlamentı; rus, Парламент Республики Казахстан, r=Parliament Res ...

approved a bill that would allow all the members be chosen through

. According to 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 ...

, "the proportional system will ensure full representation of all political parties, will allow the development of party building, increase the role of parties in the political life of the country and take into account the interests of the people." However, this move was met with skepticism as it would bar self-nominated candidates from running in the races or even being MP of the mäslihat which some accused was a violation of the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

Campaign

On 10 December 2020, the Central Election Commission (OSK) registered in total of 8,334 candidates competing in the local races that were included in all 832 party lists in which 216 were from

, 215 from

, 174 from Ak Zhol, 158 from Auyl, 69 from People's Party.

Results

Regional

Overall results

Seats earned by region

Municipal

Nationwide results

References

{{Kazakhstan elections

Local Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States * Local government, a form of public administration, usually the lowest tier of administrat ...

Local elections in Kazakhstan