On 10 January 2021, the day when parliamentary elections to the Mazhilis, the Parliament's lower house were held in the Republic of Kazakhstan, international observers from the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation monitored the operation of polling stations in Nur-Sultan and several towns near the Kazakh capital.
Several accredited observers from the SCO Secretariat led by SCO Deputy Secretary-General Zhang Haizhou, head of the SCO Observer Mission, monitored the process at polling station No. 257 at the Embassy of Kazakhstan in China.
SCO observers also talked with voters and representatives of the media and Kazakhstan's Central Election Commission.
According to the mission's preliminary conclusions, the parliamentary elections held in Kazakhstan and beyond it were open and transparent. The observers noted the voters' positive mood, comfortable conditions at polling stations, and compliance with the sanitary recommendations in light of the measures taken to stop the spread of COVID-19.
When the polling stations closed, international observers submitted their opinion of the elections to the central office of the SCO Observer Mission. The final statement of the SCO Observer Mission based on the observers' reports will be made public on 11 January 2021.