Ever since the great people of Kazakhstan have petitioned their government to extend the great leaders office term we have been on a roller coaster ride of epic proportions. Nazarbayev has modestly rejected these proposals and has called on early elections in order to create a fair consensus amongst his people. Since the call for elections there has been more than 22 candidates who saw themselves as the top dog, interestingly enough we had a large female turnout in the early stages. Now the official number has been trimmed down to 4 active candidates who have been deemed as worthy by the election committee of Kazakhstan. As of today the platforms of each candidates has been finalized and the talking heads have taken off on a tour of interviews, fundraisers, baby smooching, and the occasional photo-op with the prettiest horse in town.

Before the official kick off of the 2011 election there were reports made by Radio Free Europe and the NGO Kaznet Freedom that many websites have been shut down or temporarily suspended by the government. Observers have noticed a pattern sweeping the Central Asian countries since the massive political unrest in the Middle East has broken out. There were 14 websites reported as blocked or limited viewing capability, some of which were social media websites like blogger.com, wordpress.com and the opposition website Eurasia.org.ru. Majority of websites in Kazakhstan go through two main servers operated by KazTeleCom and Nursat. These companies have been found in the past to collaborate with the central authorities and have been very active in the censorship of internet material within the Kazakh borders. There was one very important point made by a commenter named Michael from Astana on the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty website, he stated that this kind of activity happens on a regular basis and one way to get around this is for websites to start producing full articles in RSS feeds. The ability to access censored material like blogs and media websites can be overcome by ways of RSS feeds through Google reader.



Nazarbayev has started off his campaign with the typical political agenda, lowering poverty rate by 6% and reduce unemployment to 5%. The other pledges he has made are to increase the average lifetime to 72 years and cut maternal and infant mortality by half. Both of which I personally believe, as well as others, such factors as average life span and maternal/infant rates are long-term initiatives and are heavily influenced by economic activity and least influenced by political agenda. This call for average lifespan coincides with Nazarbayev's personal obsession with immortality, as has been reported in the past by different media sources, Nazerbayev works tirelessly to find the best scientists the world has to offer to create an elixir that would help him in governing his country for decades to come. The platform for Nur-Otan (Nazarbayev's Party) is based on past mistakes and past promises that have not yet been filled. The party has announced an agenda called 'Country's Development Program 2020' and has created a slogan for the 2011 election: 'Let's Build A Future Together.' The one interesting point that I have read from the Nazarbayev's camp is that they are planning on pushing an agenda of offering stocks to the public from the countries largest companies. Seems that Nur-Oten is the only group who has interest in furthering the position of Kazakh businesses with capitalist initiatives.



The Patriots Party led by Gani Kasimov has been the most original and unique in its initiatives. The party has opened its' platform with plans to upgrade all branches of government, transform into a presidential-parliamentary form of government, and abolish all regional establishments. The government would then work directly with with regional administrations through the ministries. This agenda seems to be very unique in that it calls for a complete revamp of the present establishment, a gutsy road for one man in a small group. The other points that the Patriots Party have highlighted are the reintroduction of collective farming (to this date this system has not worked effectively in any part of the world) and the right for women to retire at 55. Gani has expressed many drastic changes that his party would like to make, other points of interest is the elimination of taxes on home-production level businesses and the imposition of a special tax on foreign labor. The Gani camp has focused heavily on the function of the government and how to improve in the effectiveness of its role for the Kazakh people. Many will criticize him for being so theoretical but there is something to be said about a man who welcomes reforms that enable efficiency and encourages internal growth with the goal of international competition in mind. Gani's party has insisted on taking urgent steps to revive historical heritage and national culture, furthering a quasi-nationalist agenda that would focus on Kazakhness in a very shallow and manufactured light.



Mels Elevsizov who is the leader of the Environmental Union - or in Kazakh 'Tabigat' - has been the only self promoting candidate in the 2011 election. Elevsizov's camp has been focusing on social media networks to spread its message and raise campaign funds the groups headline reads, "New Line, New Way." The main points that the party has made so far is that it sees Russia as the only priority in Kazakhstan's foreign policy initiatives. The party has also expressed its dissatisfaction with Kazakhstan joining W.T.O., citing the countries infant stages in production levels and its improper allocations of human resources to achieve international standards. Elevsizov also called for the elimination of citizen resettling programs that bring people into the cities and out of the rural villages. He has stated that agendas like this are not in line with societal progress and would only benefit politicians egos, the party recommends instead to raise living standards in remote areas of Kazakhstan to further overall stability. The foundation of his campaign is based on nature, conservancy, environmental awareness, and proper allocation of natural resources.


"Authorities Have Power, We Have The Truth!" cries Zhambyl Ahmetbekov who is a member of the present Kazakhstan Communist Party and the fourth and last candidate in the 2011 election. Mr. Zhambyl vows that he and his party will find a way to redistribute the country's natural resources in the most appropriate fashion. He wants to restore state control over energy, oil, mining, railway, and majority of the transport sectors. There is also talk that the party wants to introduce legislation that would halt the export of cotton, wool, wood, and raw-stock. This believe is rooted in the assumption that Kazakhstan has been distributing its natural resources inefficiently and too many outside interests have benefited from Kazakhstan and not enough internal markers have been achieved. The remedy for this problem, as stated by Ahmetbekov, is to set quotas on the exports of ferrous and non-ferrous metals, and expanding production of metal domestically. To sum up the platform for Ahmetbekov is less than a few words is to say that he believes in old-communist principles (tried and failed) and truly believes that an isolationist ideology is the best option for a growing nation like Kazakhstan.

The candidates have only until April 1 to propose and reiterate their platforms. After the 3rd of April the will of the people will choose the next president of Kazakhstan. For the first time in Kazakh history 60 OSCE PA Deputies have been assigned to the elections and Tonino Picula has been assigned as the head of the mission. Lets us hope for a fair and smooth transition of power and for peace and prosperity in Central Asia.