Legislative elections were held in Kazakhstan on 7 March 1994, alongside local elections. The People's Union of Kazakhstan Unity emerged as the largest party with 33 of the 177 seats, although 64 independents were also elected. Supporters of the President won a clear majority of seats, and around 60% of seats were won by ethnic Kazakhs. Following the elections, Sergey Tereshchenko was reappointed Prime Minister. Voter turnout was 73.5%.[1]

Background

The elections were the first to the Supreme Kenges created by the 1993 constitution; elections for the former 360-seat Supreme Soviet had last taken place in March 1990, prior to independence in December 1991. The outgoing Supreme Soviet dissolved itself on 13 December 1993, five days after having set the election date.

Campaign

The President's People's Union of Kazakhstan Unity was challenged by several newly formed groups, especially the People's Congress of Kazakhstan. After a screening process, 754 candidates were approved to contest the 135 directly-elected seats. There were also 65 candidates for the 42 "state list" seats.

The campaign lasted two-months and was focussed on the economy; Nazarbayev committed to the free-market system and continuing reforms, particularly in the banking and tax spheres, in order to attract foreign investment.[2]

Conduct

The elections were monitored by foreign observers, including the CSCE. The CSCE report called into question whether the elections had been free and fair.[2]

Results

PartyVotes%Seats+/–
People's Union of Kazakhstan Unity33New
Federation of Trade Unions of Kazakhstan11New
People's Congress of Kazakhstan9New
Socialist Party of Kazakhstan8New
Peasants Union of Kazakhstan4New
Social Movement "Harmony"4New
Democratic Committee of Human Rights1New
Union of Kazakhstan's Youth1New
Communist Party of Kazakhstan0New
Independents64+46
State list42New
Total177–183
Valid votes7,017,45799.82
Invalid/blank votes12,5930.18
Total votes7,030,050100.00
Registered voters/turnout9,561,53473.52
Source: Nohlen et al.

References

  1. ↑ Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume I, p420 ISBN 0-19-924958-X
  2. 1 2 Elections held in 1994 IPU
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