Referendum Valid: Majority of Eligible Voters Turn Out for Kazakhstan’s National Referendum
ASTANA – More than half of the eligible voters participated in the national referendum on the construction of a nuclear power plant in Kazakhstan, reported the Central Election Commission (CEC) at an Oct. 6 press briefing.
Citizens of Kazakhstan at the polling station in Moscow. Photo credit: Kazakh Embassy in Russia
“Overall, nationwide, as of 2 p.m., 6,399,425 citizens have received their ballots, which accounts for 51.77% out of the overall number of eligible voters,” said CEC member Sabila Mustafina.
“It should be noted that under paragraph 2 of Article 31 of the constitutional law on the national referendum, the referendum is considered valid if more than half of eligible voters participate,” she added.
The highest voter turnout is in the Turkistan Region, at 67.38%, and the lowest is in the city of Almaty, at 16.91%.
A high participation rate is also observed in the East Kazakhstan Region, at 61.73%; the city of Shymkent, at 64.38%; the Kostanai Region, at 61.54%; the Karagandy Region, at 59.92%, and the Almaty Region, at 59.32%.
In the capital city of Astana, 45.19% of eligible voters participated in the referendum.
Voting continues until 8 p.m. Among over 10,000 polling stations, 74 have been set up in Kazakhstan’s diplomatic missions abroad.
One hundred and seventy-seven observers from 30 foreign countries and four international organizations, including the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the Organization of Turkic States (OTS), and the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA), observe the vote.
