On the parliamentary elections in Kazakhstan: Socialist Movement of Kazakhstan

Image via the Socialist Movement of Kazakhstan

Via the Socialist Movement of Kazakhstan

On August 23, Kazakhstan held elections to the unicameral parliament, the Kurultai, as part of the constitutional reform that had been carried out. As a result, the main presidential party, “Adilet,” which was established just a few months ago, along with other parties representing large capital, secured more than 70 percent of the seats in the legislative body.

The party of large agrarian capitalists, “Auyl,” came second in the parliament, receiving only 6.26 percent. The other three parties — the CPC, “Ak Zhol,” and “Respublika” — made it into parliament by overcoming the five percent threshold, with minor differences between them in terms of fractions of a percent. Only two associations remained outside the legislative body: the Green Party “Baitak” and the former pro government “communists” party, the People’s Party of Kazakhstan.

The main outcome was the consolidation of all political entities around the current president, Kassym Jomart Tokayev, and his party, as part of the restructuring of the political system and the removal of all possible supporters of the family of the previous president, Nursultan Nazarbayev. Although this structure fully replicates the one used by Nazarbayev, since the then ruling party “Nur Otan” achieved the same results and was the main pillar.

It is likely that the new support in the form of a fully controlled Kurultai is needed not only to maintain the previous course of anti social reforms and to carry out the final stage of privatization, liberalization and deregulation of the economy, but also as a necessary support for initiating early presidential elections, since all of Tokayev’s previous terms were “reset” under the new constitution.

Bourgeois opposition parties were not allowed to participate in the elections and did not even complete the registration process. The only formally opposition party, the OSDP, is loyal to the current government and is supposed to represent a nominally left wing constructive force in the Kurultai, although its leaders’ rhetoric suggests a liberal stance. The “Ak Zhol” party, which traces its history back to the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, represents the interests of large mining holdings closely linked to Western corporations, while the “Respublika” party also relies on the younger generation of the bourgeoisie and advocates for the implementation of the harshest antisocial reforms.

It is noteworthy that these two parties, representing big capital, are also radically nationalist and duplicate each other. Although ideological nationalists have this time been included in the election lists of all existing political parties, this raises the question of whether this is artificial. All of them carefully avoided social topics, and the difference between the party programs amounted to only 20%.

At the same time, the People’s Party of Kazakhstan (PPC), which removed the word “communist” from its name several years ago and was created with the participation of the authorities earlier as a counterbalance to the old Communist Party of Kazakhstan, which was dissolved by a decision of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Kazakhstan in 2015, also turned out to include many large capitalists who allegedly created thousands of new jobs. This was what justified the “left wing character” of this party. That is, there was no mention of any protection of workers’ rights, independent trade unions, or the right to hold strikes in the NPK’s propaganda toolkit.

In the end, it was “discarded” by Akorda, as it had done its job, discredited the ideology in the eyes of the ruling elite, and neutralized the “traditional electorate.” It is noteworthy that high ranking officers of the National Security Committee (NSC) also consistently ran for office on behalf of the party. And since the current administration has been diligently getting rid of former supporters of Nazarbayev, this also became a factor in preventing the party from being included in the new Kurultai.

According to the “against all” option, which some left wing groups promoted as some kind of “alternative,” only 2.5 % of voters chose it. The return of this option is entirely aimed at attracting those who do not trust all the current political associations to the polls, and thus increasing the turnout anyway. Even the spoiling of ballots does not change the situation, since the citizens who came to vote still “voted.” Conversely, in the republic, those who had openly called for a boycott of the referendum on the new Constitution were the ones who were subsequently held criminally liable with a court verdict. That is, for the ruling class, the threat primarily comes from an organized and mass boycott, rather than from a call to vote “against all,” since their votes will still be counted in favor of the existing parties, will increase turnout, and will only legitimize the voting process itself and its results.

The only surprising aspect of these elections was the record voter turnout of 75%, which was even higher than during Nazarbayev’s rule. In some regions in the south of the Republic of Kazakhstan, this turnout exceeded 90%, which is questioned by many observers and local residents themselves, who have not seen such a crowd at polling stations even in the scorching heat.

It is clear that with these elections, the ruling group attempted to demonstrate unity and consolidation around the current supreme arbiter, who seems to have started his political activity from scratch and enjoys the unwavering support of the absolute majority. In reality, of course, the ruling class is not monolithic, but all competing and regional groups have been marginalized from the electoral campaign for the Kurultai and have lost their formal representation.

It is clear that the current unicameral parliament will unanimously rubber stamp the necessary laws in favor of local and foreign capital, remove all obstacles to transferring deposits of rare and rare earth metals into the hands of Western corporations, carry out another “reform” of the funded pension system, which is on the verge of collapse, and support the current government, which will change little in order to implement the same course.

This sham election also demonstrated the absence of a legal party for the working class and the working people, capable of fighting for their rights and against anti people reforms. Our task is to secure the registration and legalization of a party that adheres to Marxism Leninism and has a socialist programme of reforms in the interests of the majority, demanding the return of all the country’s wealth to public ownership, with workers themselves managing and controlling the economy based on different principles.

The Political Council of the Socialist Movement of Kazakhstan