Kazakh presidential election ballot to include ‘None of the above’ option

Kazakh citizens will have the opportunity to vote against all candidates in the upcoming presidential elections on November 20. The corresponding option will be listed in a ballot paper, the Central Election Commission announced. They noted that such a vote option was introduced into the legislation last year during the elections of rural mayors. It has been retained since then. It bears noting that presidential candidates must pay an election fee of three million tenge. The election fee will be returned to the candidate if he or she wins the election or gains at least five percent of the votes.

“In order to support presidential candidates, it is necessary to collect the signatures of at least one percent of voters, equally representing at least two-thirds of regions, cities of national significance and the capital. As of July 1, there are 11,827,277 citizens with the right to vote included into the voter register of the Central Election Commission. Thus, at least 118,273 valid signatures of voters must be collected in support of each candidate,” Konstantin Petrov, Deputy Chairperson of the Central Election Commission of Kazakhstan, said.