Election - The Times Of Central Asia

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Gender Quotas

Kazakhstan’s New Kurultai Elections: What the 30% Quota Could Mean for Women in Parliament

Kazakhstan’s new Constitution entered into force on July 1. On August 23, voters will elect the country’s first unicameral Kurultai, a 145-member legislature that replaces the former Mazhilis and Senate. Political parties are already submitting their lists, with nominations open from July 2 to July 13. Those lists must meet an inclusion requirement that has taken on new significance under the new electoral system: at least 30% of candidates must come from three combined categories, women, young people, and people with disabilities. How many women will actually enter the new parliament will become clear only after the votes are counted. But it is already possible to assess what the rule can achieve, and where its weaknesses lie. What the Law Requires The quota is less straightforward in practice. It does not guarantee that 30% of seats will go to women. The rule sets a combined 30% target that includes women alongside young people and people with disabilities. A party could comply with the rule while doing relatively little to increase women’s representation, if enough candidates from the other eligible categories are included. The rule carries added weight because Kazakhstan’s new Kurultai will be elected through a nationwide proportional party-list system. Under this model, placement on party lists can count as much as the overall number of women nominated. Kazakhstan has also lowered the threshold for registering political parties from 40,000 to 20,000 members, a change intended to make it easier for new political forces to participate. Seven parties have been cleared to compete in the August 23 election. Kazakhstan’s Starting Point Before the transition to the new unicameral legislature, women’s representation in Kazakhstan’s parliament remained limited. By the end of 2025, women held 17 seats in the Mazhilis, or 17.3% of the chamber. As of July 2025, women held 10 of 50 seats in the Senate, or 20%. By comparison, the global average for women’s representation in national parliaments stood at 27.5% at the end of 2025, after rising by just 0.3 percentage points over the year. Kazakhstan enters its first Kurultai election from a position below the global average. How Neighboring Countries Have Addressed the Issue The region already offers examples of how differently gender quotas can work. In Uzbekistan, the quota for women candidates in elections to the Legislative Chamber was raised from 30% to 40% and applied for the first time in the 2024 elections. Unlike Kazakhstan’s rule, Uzbekistan’s quota applies specifically to women rather than to a combined group. The result was noticeable: the number of women MPs rose from 48, or 32%, to 57, or 38%, out of 150 seats. As of July 2025, women also held 16 of 65 Senate seats in Uzbekistan, or 24.6%. An even sharper increase took place in Kyrgyzstan. In the 2025 parliamentary elections, women’s share of seats rose by 12.9 percentage points, the largest increase among countries that renewed their parliaments that year. The change came from a redesign of the electoral system rather than from a symbolic quota....

Kazakhstan’s Party Landscape Enters a Decisive Week

Kazakhstan’s party system may be approaching one of its most consequential turning points in years. With Amanat scheduled to hold a party congress on June 12 and the newly registered Adilet party planning its own gathering on June 14, speculation is growing that the country’s dominant political organization could be reshaped, merged, or rebranded ahead of elections to the new unicameral Kurultai. The immediate question is whether Amanat, the successor to the party originally created around Kazakhstan’s first president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, will remain the major pro-presidential force or whether its extensive organizational resources will be drawn into Adilet, a new party aligned with President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s political agenda and reform program. For now, no merger has been officially announced, but the timing of the two congresses has made the possibility central to Kazakhstan’s political debate. Adilet held its founding congress on May 7, and was officially registered by the Ministry of Justice on June 1. It is led by Aibek Dadebay, the former head of Tokayev’s administration, and presents itself as a pro-presidential force built around the language of justice, responsibility, and reform. Its emergence adds an eighth officially registered party to Kazakhstan’s system, but its political importance lies less in the number of parties than in the possibility that it could become the new vehicle for the president’s loyalist coalition. That makes Adilet’s appearance significant in a regional context. For many years, Kyrgyzstan was often regarded as Central Asia’s most advanced state in terms of party development and political pluralism. Today, however, Kazakhstan has become a more influential reference point for party-building, one that is attracting attention in Tashkent and Dushanbe, while Kyrgyzstan has largely moved away from party-centered politics. Kazakhstan has developed a multi-party model in which several major political organizations are represented in parliament. The system seeks to balance the interests of the state with those of various social groups and constituencies. Individual elements of this model can be adjusted or transformed as political demands evolve. For example, as public nostalgia for communism began to fade, the Communist People’s Party of Kazakhstan quietly dropped the word “Communist” from its public identity. Ironically, when the party was originally established, the word “People’s” had been added to distinguish it from the Communist Party of Kazakhstan, from which many of its founders had emerged. Through such splits, mergers, and rebrandings, Kazakhstan has gradually constructed a party system that encompasses organizations representing a broad spectrum of society, from state officials and business interests to rural communities. In both Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, five political parties are officially registered. Their political spectrum broadly mirrors that of Kazakhstan: a dominant ruling party, a socialist or communist party, and organizations positioning themselves as democratic, people’s, agrarian, or environmental movements. Kyrgyzstan, by contrast, has taken a markedly different path. In 2025, the country completed its transition from a party-centered political system to one in which parties play a secondary role. Elections to the Jogorku Kenesh are now conducted primarily through a majoritarian model that emphasizes individual...

Uzbekistan President’s Party Wins Landmark Election Held Under New Voting System

On October 27, Uzbekistan held elections for deputies of the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis (Lower House of Parliament) and local councils. This marks the first time these elections were conducted using a mixed (majority-proportional) system and featured electronic voting. For over a month, parties actively promoted their election programs to the public, with televised debates and messages on public transport urging citizens to participate in the elections and shape the country’s future. As required by law, all campaign activities were halted one day before the election. The electoral platforms of the five parties registered in Uzbekistan saw The Liberal Democratic Party of Uzbekistan (UzLiDeP) emphasize poverty reduction and promoting internal labor migration over the next five years. The party also campaigned on expanding public-private partnerships in water management, ecology, and energy to increase the private sector's share in the economy to 85%. Additionally, UzLiDeP pledged to improve education, healthcare, and social services, focusing on providing clean drinking water and sewage systems in schools. The party pledged to double the annual budget for healthcare to $6 billion, and advocated to enhance healthcare and social support for citizens over the age of 70. The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) focused on accessibility and social support, including assistive technologies at public transportation points for people with disabilities. They proposed adopting a “Social Housing” law, requiring luxury housing developers to allocate funds for social housing. This would benefit vulnerable groups, such as the homeless, people with disabilities, and those coming through the orphanage system. The party’s environmental initiatives included the Water Code and creating “Health Parks” for seniors near apartment complexes. The Milli Tiklanish (National Revival) Party’s platform spanned various topics, including youth development, cultural enrichment, family support, economic growth, and tourism. One key pledge emphasized Uzbekistan’s international relations, focusing on friendly ties with neighboring countries, cooperation, and maintaining peace - this despite party leader, Alisher Qodirov's anti-Russian rhetoric, including recent comments that “it would be better for [Russia] to deal with their own affairs [which are] full of problems than to deal with our internal issues." Qodirov has been actively responding to international discussions about Uzbekistan, reinforcing the party’s commitment to advancing national interests and strengthening Uzbekistan’s presence on the world stage. The Adolat (Justice) Social Democratic Party ran on a platform of advocating for media freedom, proposing reforms to safeguard journalists’ rights and prevent interference. Adolat pledged to introduce a “Presumption of Property Rights” to protect ownership and put forward affordable energy and price stability initiatives. The Ecology Party’s motto, “We are responsible for the future!” set out to drive home its focus on environmental and social issues. The party promoted government, business, and civil society efforts to address environmental challenges, whilst seeking to improve environmental legislation and education, and transitioning Uzbekistan toward a green economy. [caption id="attachment_24929" align="aligncenter" width="2560"] @TCA[/caption] According to Uzbek legislation, the election would be deemed valid once 33% of voters participated, and by 1pm local time 47.62% of voters had cast their ballots. President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and...

Uzbekistan Prepares for the Polls: Embracing a New Electoral System

On October 27, citizens of Uzbekistan will cast their ballots under a new mixed electoral system for the 150-member Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis (Lower House of Parliament) in elections billed as “My choice is my prospering Motherland.” Half of the candidates will be elected from single-member districts using a first-past-the-post system, whilst the other half will come from nationwide proportional representation which requires parties to surpass a 7% electoral threshold. If fewer than one-third of eligible voters participate, the election will be deemed invalid, and should no party meet the threshold for proportional seats, those elections will be considered void. By mandate, at least 40% of the candidates must be women, up from 30% in the elections held in 2019. Additionally, 56 members of the upper chamber, 65 deputies of the Jokargy Kenes of the Republic of Karakalpakstan, 12 regional and 208 district and city council seats are also being contested by approximately 30,000 candidates. At the invitation of the authorities in Uzbekistan, at the end of September, the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) dispatched a team of long-term observers. On October 5, Uzbekistan held a groundbreaking pre-election TV debate for party leaders which was broadcast live on multiple TV channels and social media platforms in Uzbek, Russian, English, and Karakalpak. Reportedly modeled on the BBC’s Question Time, the debate’s audience featured voices from the nation's youth, women, and ethnic minorities as part of a drive to engage with voters described by organizers as “innovate, creative [and] interactive. Five parties - the Liberal-Democratic Party of Uzbekistan, Milli Tiklanish (National Revival) Democratic Party, the Ecological Party of Uzbekistan, the People’s Democratic Party of Uzbekistan (PDP), and the Adolat (Justice) Social-Democratic Party – have been registered for the upcoming elections. However, others have faced a backlash for attempting to register. According to The Diplomat, all of the entities running “have always been perceived as mere extensions of the state.” Since the death of long-term despot, Islam Karimov, however, Uzbekistan’s “state apparatus [have] become more open,” as noted by an election observer in 2019, whilst the platforms of figures such as Alisher Qodirov have increasingly chimed with the public. Amidst reforms aimed at tackling endemic corruption, in recent years Uzbekistan has gained ground on Transparency International’s global corruption perception index, and recently partnered with the World Bank on “training, projects, and research to combat corruption.”

Uzbekistan’s Path to Reform: Navigating the 2024 Elections with a New Electoral System

Uzbekistan’s upcoming parliamentary elections, scheduled for October 27, 2024, mark an important step in the country’s political evolution. These elections will fill 150 seats in the Legislative Chamber, the lower house of the Oliy Majlis, and determine the composition of various regional, district, and city councils. In addition, 65 members of the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Karakalpakstan will also be elected. These elections are notable not only because of their timing — shifting from December to October under a 2021 reform — but also due to the adoption of a mixed electoral system that was introduced in December 2023. This shift represents an important evolution from the previous majority-based system, introducing a balance between majority and proportional representation, which will shape the composition of Uzbekistan’s Legislative Chamber. The new system reflects a broader attempt at political reform and modernization. Of the 150 seats, 75 will be decided through single-mandate districts, where the candidate with the most votes will win, while the remaining 75 will be allocated proportionally based on party results. Uzbekistan’s political landscape, however, remains limited, with only five officially registered parties. In the 2019 elections, the Liberal Democratic Party (UzLiDeP), which is closely linked to the presidency, won the most seats. While this mixed system represents a potential step forward, challenges persist in terms of political pluralism and genuine competition. Uzbekistan, in its journey toward stronger democratic practices, can find inspiration in the electoral processes of other established democracies, particularly India — the world’s largest democracy. India’s electoral system, honed over decades, has become a model for managing elections in a complex and diverse society. The parallels between Uzbekistan’s emerging political landscape and India’s robust democratic traditions offer an opportunity for learning and adaptation.

Election OSCE

OSCE Representatives Arrive in Uzbekistan For Talks on Upcoming Elections

Uzbekistan's central election committee is reporting that discussions have begun on whether the country needs this year's parliamentary elections to be assessed by the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR). The ODIHR is a body of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Representatives of the OSCE's election department, Keara Castaldo and Kakha Inaishvili, recently held talks in Tashkent with the chair of Uzbekistan's election committee, Zainiddin Nizamkhodjaev. During their visit to Uzbekistan Castaldo and Inaishvili will also meet with representatives of various ministries and agencies, political parties, media, and civil society bodies.