2012 Kazakh legislative election

In the 2007 Kazakh legislative elections, the pro-presidential party Nur Otan won all the 98 contested seats in the Mazhilis, which eliminated any form of opposition, bringing the Parliament under a single-party control. This received criticism and pressure from international and opposition groups in the country.[5] In an interview to Reuters, Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Karim Massimov expressed his support of having opposition in the Parliament as in a way of that the democratic reforms match an economic growth.[6] Following President Nursultan Nazarbayev's reelection in the 2011 presidential election, he announced the promise of bringing a "new era of democratic reforms."[7] Nazarbayev's advisor Ermukhamet Ertysbayev stated that the next Mazhilis convocation have a two-party system in which he used comparison with the United States and United Kingdom as an example.[5] Opposition activist Vladimir Kozlov criticized the move, saying that the authorities wouldn't let real opposition groups enter the Parliament.[5]

The 98 directly-elected members of the Mazhilis were elected from a single nationwide constituency by proportional representation with a 7% electoral threshold. Seats were allocated using the largest remainder method. If parties had an equal largest remainder, the party that was registered first was awarded the seat. If only one party crossed the threshold, the party with the second highest number of votes was to be awarded at least two seats.[10] A further nine seats were elected by the Assembly of People, a body selected by the President.[11]

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Nur Otan	5,621,436	80.99	83	–15
	Ak Zhol Democratic Party	518,405	7.47	8	+8
	Communist People's Party	498,788	7.19	7	+7
	Nationwide Social Democratic Party	116,534	1.68	0	0
	Auyl Kazakh Social Democratic Party	82,623	1.19	0	0
	Party of Patriots	57,732	0.83	0	0
	Democratic Party Adilet	45,702	0.66	0	New
Members elected by the Assembly of People				9	0
Total		6,941,220	100.00	107	0
Valid votes		6,941,220	98.89
Invalid/blank votes		77,707	1.11
Total votes		7,018,927	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		9,303,693	75.44
Source: Psephos

The nine nominees were: Sauytbek Abdrahmov, Vladimir Bozhko, Natalya Zhumadildayeva, Roman Kim, Narine Mikaelyan, Ahmet Muradov, Shaimardan Nurumov, Yury Tymochenko and Shakir Khakhazov.[12]

The opposition claimed there was widespread irregularities and fraud. The OSCE and US Department of State did not recognise the elections as democratic.[13]

Miklos Haraszti, the head of the OSCE's long-term election-observation mission, criticized what he called a "tightly controlled campaign environment in which the electoral rights of the citizens were seriously limited." "There was limited public debate and the media, the mass media operates in an environment characterized by self-censorship and in which there is no room for editorial independence in the broadcast media." Haraszti said the "results of the election, including the presence of two parties apart from the state party, can be described as an orchestrated election."[1]