SCO Observer Mission starts monitoring parliamentary elections in Kazakhstan

On 7 January 2021, the Mission from the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation began observation of the election of deputies to the Mazhilis of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan, scheduled for 10 January, at the invitation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan.

The Mission has 15 accredited observers representing SCO legislative and electoral bodies, diplomats from the SCO member states, as well as SCO Secretariat officials.

The Mission is headed by the SCO Deputy Secretary-General Zhang Haizhou. On election day, members of the Mission will visit the Embassy of Kazakhstan in the People's Republic of China, where they will monitor the voting process by citizens of Kazakhstan abroad.

At the same time, to get the most complete picture of the electoral process on the territory of Kazakhstan, the Mission representatives began monitoring the course of election in Nur-Sultan and other cities and towns in Kazakhstan.

In the time remaining before the election day, the Mission will focus on checking the polling stations' readiness, monitoring the voting process and the procedures at polling stations, counting votes, conducting exit polls and surveying candidates' representatives and other observers.