Following the second round, the Central Election Commission declared the results of voting invalid in three of the 47 districts due to unspecified violations, and ordered new elections to take place on 26 December. The issue of most concern related to the new elections was the CEC interpretation of who would be eligible to contest these races.

The CEC reported that it has requested the Government to consider submitting amendments to the Law on Elections to the Parliament to void Articles 96(4) and 110. Article 96(4) states that “Candidates for election as deputies for the Majilis that already ran in the (primary) election should not take part in runoff election.” Article 110 stipulates the same provision for the elections to the Maslikhats. This flaw in the election law effectively punishes candidates if a court rules that an election result is invalid and the election must be held again. These provisions take effect even if an election is overturned because of illegal or fraudulent actions on the part of election officials. Articles 96(4) and 110 disenfranchise candidates by making them automatically ineligible to participate in a repeat election.

The CEC interpreted the provisions to mean that any candidate who ran in any single-mandate district or on a party list ballot in the original election could not be put forward in the repeated new election in which a new slate would be presented to voters. This expanded interpretation by the CEC cannot be justified.

The new elections on 26 December produced winners in two of the three districts rerun. In District 24, with fourteen candidates on the ballot, a second round of the rerun election was held on 9 January 2000 to produce a winner. Current or former members of government structures were elected in all three districts.

Candidates, civic organizations, and voters have sought to remedy violations committed during the two rounds of the elections by filing some 420 complaints with the CEC. An additional 1,056 complaints were filed with the CEC’s Media Sub-commission, and an unverified number of complaints and appeals were filed with the courts. The Central Election Commission has not yet published a report on the outcome of these cases.

More importantly, the Central Election Commission has yet to address the lack of transparency in the two-round elections. Since 11 October and on numerous occasions, in writing and during meetings, the OSCE/ODIHR and the EOM have urged the CEC to publish the complete details of the two-round election results with district and national level summaries for the single mandate and party list races. Moreover, the OSCE/ODIHR urged the CEC to make the same information available to the public in Kazakhstan in an attempt to restore confidence in the country’s electoral process. On 14 December, the CEC finally forwarded to OSCE/ODIHR such a summary, but only for the single mandate District 1. As of the date of this writing, the OSCE/ODIHR has received nothing more on the remaining 66 districts and party list races, and these details have not been published in the country.

However, in mid-December the Central Election Commission informed OSCE/ODIHR of the following developments:

• The CEC was considering a recount of the election results in two districts, but since then nothing more has been stated. In one other district, after a recount ordered by the CEC, another candidate was declared the new winner. The losing candidate was eventually appointed to the Senate.
• The Supreme Court was considering cases related to three districts (16, 24 and 53). Again, no further information has been made available.

The practical result of this first meeting of the Forum was the adoption of a resolution that contains a series of demands. These include:

• an appeal to the Parliaments and Governments of the USA, Russia, Japan, EU, CIS, and OSCE not to recognize the deputies elected by means of widespread falsification to the Majilis and Senate;
• a demand that the election results in both the Senate and Majilis be declared invalid;
• a demand to bring the members of the CEC and lower-standing election commissions to justice for the violations committed;
• a demand to conduct in the first half of 2000 new elections to the Majilis and Maslikhats and also elections of Akims and judges at all levels;
• a demand to conduct in the second half of 2000 new elections to the Senate.

President Nazarbaev had addressed the nation on 8 October, calling on Akims at all levels to “set a high standard” of democratic impartiality, “[y]ou must strictly adhere to the principle of non-interference by executive authorities in the activities of parties and candidates.” He stated that every public official and law enforcement officer would be held accountable to a standard of elections that are: “free and open, transparent and competitive, monitored, accurately reported, and fairly adjudicated.” (Statement by the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan N. A. Nazarbaev to the people of the country in connection with the elections of October 10, 1999. Full text available from the Central Election Commission Website )