Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Legal News Blogs -> JURIST - The Paper Chase

Legal News

: JURIST - The Paper Chase

Kazakhstan parliament approves legislation requiring two-party representation

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] The Kazakhstan Parliament on Thursday approved legislation designed to ensure that there is representation from at least two political parties in the lawmaking body. The election law reform measure is seen as a way to enhance democracy in Kazakhstan before it takes over as chair of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Europe's main security and human rights body, in 2010. The new law will allow the party that wins the second most votes to obtain seven seats in parliament, whether or not they meet the 7 percent threshold currently required to hold a seat. Other reforms that were passed include lowering the number of members required to form political parties to 40,000, down from 50,000, while requiring the signatures of at least 600 individuals from each province. Critics contend that elections reform in Kazakhstan has not met the assurances the country gave in order to overcome opposition to its taking over as chair of the OSCE. In December, Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report detailing how Kazakhstan has fallen short on its pledges to reform election laws before it takes over as head of OSCE. The report focused on two fundamental areas of ensuring an open and free system of elections - the rights to freedom of expression and assembly and the failure of Kazakhstan to live up to its promises of reform in those areas. Some of the criticism of Kazakhstan's electoral practices has stemmed from the December 2005 election in which President Nursultan Nazarbaev, in office since 1991, was re-elected with 91 percent of the vote. International observers raised concerns of fraud after that poll, which opposition parties unsuccessfully challenged.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on January 15, 2009 (boomark / email).