In Kazakhstan, a draft of amendments and additions to some constitutional laws, primarily to the law on elections, has been submitted for public discussion. A number of amendments have already caused negative reviews both from foreign human rights organizations and from the citizens of the country themselves.
For example, on July 24, Almaty resident Daniyar Supiev held a solo picket to protest against the proposed amendments. As Supiev himself explained, they restrict the rights of observers, since they require the obligatory presence of accreditation for organizations that wish to send independent observers to the elections. According to Supiev, if these amendments are adopted, then there will be no independent monitoring in Kazakhstan at all.
The police detained the man for a single picket – he allegedly violated the rules for holding rallies: he did not notify local executive bodies of his intentions in a timely manner.
Meanwhile, the draft amendments are indeed quite curious. Thus, it is proposed to amend Article 19 of the Law “On Elections”, which regulates the status of a member of election commissions, according to which a person nominated by a public association financed by international organizations and international public associations, foreign state bodies, foreign legal entities, and citizens cannot be a member of the election commission.
The international foundation for the protection of freedom of speech “Adil soz” also has complaints about the proposed amendments. In particular, according to the fund, Kazakh journalists were indignant that only one representative from each media outlet could be present at the polling station on election day, which violated the rights of television film crews and news agencies, which, as a rule, have 2-3 people each.
“Well, this ridiculous restriction will soon be over. Among many other things (and really progressive ones), the developers propose to allow people to be present at the polling station on the day of voting … let’s quote literally: “no more than three representatives from the media.” You can guess – what is it, just a typo? Accidentally missed the word “from each media”? Or this is how it was planned: there are three media outlets at the polling station, but the rest do not have a move,” Adil Soz asks rhetorical questions.
The fund urges citizens not to guess on coffee grounds, but to express their opinion on the website of open legal acts, where this bill is being discussed. And do it as soon as possible, because the public comment will only last until July 28th.
