'Electoral democracy: international experience and presidential elections in Kazakhstan' conference held in Almaty

ALMATY. March 10. KAZINFORM /Aigul Turysbekova/ Such issues as development and distinctions of electoral democracy in Kazakhstan, foreign experience and specifics of election campaigns compared to Kazakhstan's experience in this field were discussed by foreign and local experts at the international conference 'Electoral democracy: international experience and presidential elections in Kazakhstan' held in Almaty.

The organizers of the conference are the Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies under the President of Kazakhstan and the Center for Economic and Policy Research 'Trends and Forecasts'.

According to Director of the Institute Bulat Sultanov, the presidential candidates are holding their campaigns now actively using non-standard decisions, working with mass media and meeting the people. "Presently, overwhelming majority is ready to vote for Nursultan Nazarbayev. Independent experts say that around 70-75 percent of voters will support him at the forthcoming elections," he emphasized.

He also reminded that the elections were an integral part of modern democratic society and an important condition in forming state bodies. "The elections to the Majilis are planned for 2012. The current presidential candidates will exert every effort to promote their political parties. They will have a very tough competition for the rest 15-20 percent of the votes," B. Sultanov noted.

The experts from Kazakhstan took the floor in the second part of the session. They told about the main tendencies, prospects of the early presidential elections aimed at strengthening of democratic basis of Kazakhstan's society.