Baku, Azerbaijan, March 20
By Elena Kosolapova - Trend:
Kazakhs have today started voting to elect members for parliament and local representative bodies, known as the maslikhats.
The voting will be held from 07:00 through 20:00 (UTC/GMT +6 hours).
More than 9,800 polling stations have been created across the country for the elections.
Aside from that, 65 polling stations have been created at the country's diplomatic missions abroad.
As many as 234 candidates from the following six parties are running for the parliament: the ruling party Nur Otan (127 candidates), Ak Zhol (35 candidates), Aul (19 candidates), the Communist People's Party of Kazakhstan (22 candidates), the Nationwide Social Democratic Party (23 candidates) and the Birlik Party (eight candidates).
A total of 98 MPs are to be elected from these parties. Nine more MPs are to be elected from Kazakhstan's Assembly of People during a voting at the Assembly on March 21.
As many as 10,825 candidates are running for seats in the maslikhats. On average, three candidates are running for one maslikhat member mandate.
A total of 955 observers from other countries and international organizations, and foreign media representatives will work in Kazakhstan during the elections.
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