Kazakhs are electing on Sunday the new unicameral parliament (Kurultai) of the largest Central Asian republic, with approximately 12.6 million people eligible to vote.
More than 70% of citizens have expressed their desire to exercise their right to vote.
These are the tenth parliamentary elections in Kazakhstan since the country’s independence and the first for a unicameral parliament.
More than 10,000 polling stations in the country opened at 7 a.m. local time (02:00 GMT) and will close at 8:00 p.m. (15:00 GMT).
Created after a constitutional referendum in March, the new legislature will have 145 seats and will be elected proportionally through party lists.
The main difference for Sunday’s elections, in which seven parties will present 545 candidates, is that the ruling party has changed its name.
The Adilet (Justice) party, which was founded in May, merged a month later with Amanat, created in 1999 as a support platform for Nursultan Nazarbayev under the name Nur Otan.
According to experts, Adilet is the clear favorite, not only for victory but also to form a new constitutional majority with two-thirds of the votes, according to polls.
In second place, behind Adilet, will likely be the Auyl party, which represents the moderate opposition.
Meanwhile, the other formations will focus their struggle on clearing the electoral threshold (5%). EFE