Kazakh parliamentary elections to be held in first half of 2023: Majilis

The chairman of the lower house of Kazakhstan's parliament (Majilis) announced on Wednesday that the elections will be held in the first half of next year.

“Parliamentary elections will be held in the first half of next year, but the president will announce this. Naturally, after that, a new government will be formed. We have to wait until the president announces the deadlines,” Yerlan Koshanov said on the sidelines of the plenary meeting of the Majilis, according to the state-run Kazinform news agency.

The statement came as Kazakhstan’s incumbent President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev won the country’s snap presidential election with 81.31% of the votes, according to final results declared by the country’s election authority on Tuesday.

Tokayev was registered as the winner of the election and Kazakhstan’s president, according to a press briefing by the Central Election Committee.

Votes received by Tokayev amount to about 6.45 million out of around 12 million eligible voters, while the voter turnout was 69.4% in the election, as nearly 8.3 million voters cast their ballots.

Zhiguli Dayrabaev was Tokayev’s closest opponent who received %3.4% of the votes.

Tokayev will be sworn in as the president during an inauguration ceremony on Saturday, the press briefing noted.