Exit polls from Kazakhstan’s parliamentary elections show 6 parties crossing threshold

By Meiramgul Kussainova

ASTANA (AA) - Exit polls Sunday from Kazakhstan's early parliamentary and local council elections showed that six of the seven political parties running for office crossed the threshold needed to be admitted to the lower house of the legislature.

According to a survey conducted by the Eurasian Integration Institute covering 30,000 voters at 200 polling stations, including 124 in cities and 76 in villages, the Amanat Party ranked first with 53.46% of the vote. The Auyl People's Democratic Party came in second with 10.52%, and the Respublika Party, which participated in the elections for the first time, came in third with 8.9%.

The Aq Jol Democratic Party received 7.87%, the People's Party of Kazakhstan 6.25%, the National Social Democratic Party 5.31% and the Baytaq Party 3.22%.

As a result, six of the seven political parties that ran achieved the necessary score to be admitted to the parliament.

The Baytaq Party, which made its electoral debut as the green party, fell short of the requisite 5% vote share to be admitted to Kazakhstan's lower house of parliament.

Within 10 days, Kazakhstan’s Central Election Commission will declare the election's final results.

On March 19, Kazakhs went to the polls to choose representatives who would serve in the assembly and municipal assemblies for a period of five years. In the nation, where voting has concluded, the counting of votes continues.

The elections, in which a 54.19% turnout was reported, were also noted as having the lowest turnout for parliamentary elections in the nation's history since independence.