18 August 2007 Parliamentary Elections and Understanding Nazarbayev
18 August 2007 Parliamentary Elections and Understanding Nazarbayev

Summary/Abstract: This article attempts to analyse the political system that has started to take formation in Kazakhstan since its independence with a special emphasis on the Parliamentary Election held on August 18, 2007. This necessitates understanding the determining and guiding role played by President Nursultan Nazarbayev in the formation of the political processes in his country. At this point, a need arises to understand Nazarbayev as a technocrat who endeavours to consolidate his country. In short, it is of critical importance to understand him when questioning the political processes and intentions in Kazakhstan. Nazarbayev’s understanding of democracy gains and/or deviates from its meaning within the scope of his priority for the consolidation of the state. From this point of view, political transformation that the country has been undergoing as a whole including the last legal amendments and election process will be analysed. Namely, the elections in Kazakhstan, as opposed to functioning independently or being a free-flowing process, emerge as an instrument managed very carefully by Nazarbayev for realizing his personal agenda. It is not incorrect to make the same evaluation for the OSCE that was deployed in the country with an army of election observers during the August 18 elections. Despite all the deviations in the meaning of democracy, the acceptance of Kazakhstan’s candidacy for OSCE presidency for 2010 shows that the election process was managed in the best possible way to make the country a member of the world community.

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