Parliamentary elections are being held in Kazakhstan

"Most polling stations open in the regions of the republic for voting at 07:00 local time. Some polling stations set a different time for the start of voting, as a rule, from 06:00", - Interfax reports, specifying that the voting will last until 20:00 local time, after which the counting of votes will begin.

More than 10.2 thousand polling stations in the country and abroad will be open for voting. The population of Kazakhstan is 19.7 million people, and the electorate exceeds 12.3 million people. A member of the Central Election Commission of the Republic, Sabila Mustafina, said that as of 12:00 (09:00 Moscow time), the turnout was 30.65%.

"According to the data provided by the regional, cities of republican significance, the capital commissions, as of 12.00 on March 19, 2023, 30.65% of the total number of citizens included in the lists received ballots", - Mustafina said (quoted by RIA Novosti).

President of the Republic Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov have already participated in the voting. This is reported by Kazinform. The correspondent of RIA Novosti also reported that ex-President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev took part in the vote.

The head of Kazakhstan dissolved the parliament in January. Parliamentary elections in the republic are held in a new format. In particular, out of 98 deputies of the Mazhilis, 70% of parliamentarians (69 deputies) will be elected on party lists, and 30% (29 deputies) will be held in single-mandate districts. In addition, a new column appeared in the ballots — "against all". 7 parties are participating in the elections, and the threshold for entering parliament has been lowered from 7% to 5%.

"To monitor the election campaign, the Central Election Commission accredited about 800 international observers from 41 foreign countries and 12 international organizations", - Interfax reports.