March 19, 2023, Astana, Kazakhstan - The Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM) deployed an Election Observation Mission (EOM), from March 17 to 20, 2023, on the occasion of the early legislative and local elections in Kazakhstan, at the invitation of Mr. Mukhtar Tileuberdi, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs.
The PAM delegation to Kazakhstan consisted of Hon. Pedro Roque, Vice-President of PAM (Portugal), and Hon. Florin Urcan (Romania), PAM Goodwill Ambassador for Central and Eastern Europe and Emeritus Member.
In Astana, PAM delegates held high-level meetings with, among others, Deputy Foreign Minister Roman Vasilenko; the Chairman of the Committee for International Relations, Defense and Security of the Senate of the Parliament of Kazakhstan, Hon. Askar Shakirov; the Deputy Speaker of the People's Assembly of Kazakhstan, Natalia Griegorievna Dementieva; the Secretary of the Central Election Committee, Mr. Mukhtar Yerman; and the Secretary General of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA), Mr. Kairat Sarybay.
In addition, PAM representatives had the opportunity to meet the ambassadors of Morocco, North Macedonia, Portugal, Romania and Spain.
On election day, although weather conditions deteriorated throughout the day, with heavy snowfall in the early morning and a sharp drop in temperature, citizens went to the polls without encountering any problems.
The PAM EOM visited 10 polling stations in Astana, where it found excellent organization. Polling stations were usually set up in public places, not in schools. Indeed, other public buildings of larger dimension and endowed with a careful architecture were chosen, in particular the National Opera, KazTransOil, the University of arts, the National museum and the Palace of the schoolchildren.
From a technical point of view, no irregularities were observed in the conduct of the elections during the observation. Polling station officials and their staff were very open to discussing the organization of the elections and the conduct of the voting process.
PAM delegates wish to thank the authorities of Kazakhstan for allowing them to participate in the observation of the elections, in particular the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for its kind invitation.
For the first time, and in accordance with its statutes, the Assembly has been invited to observe elections outside its region, which underlines the fact that the political relevance of PAM is growing beyond its field of competence. geographic action.
PAM also wishes to thank other state institutions, political parties and representatives of civil society organizations for their cooperation.//