The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) mission of observers found no violations of law at a referendum on constitutional amendments in Kazakhstan, SCO Secretary-General Zhang Ming said on Monday.
"The referendum on amendments to the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan complied with the requirements of Kazakhstan's electoral legislation and the country's international commitments. The mission did not find any violations of national legislation that cast doubt on the legitimacy of the referendum. The mission recognizes the referendum as open, transparent, and democratic," Kazinform Agency quotes him as saying.
A referendum on constitutional amendments was held in Kazakhstan on Sunday. Under the amendments, the powers of the head of state are reduced, the role of parliament and local representative bodies is significantly strengthened, the human rights sphere is systematically strengthened, the Constitutional Court is reconstituted, the final abolition of the death penalty is fixed and provisions on the status of the country's first leader, Nursultan Nazarbayev, are excluded.
According to the latest figures from the Central Referendum Commission, turnout was 68.44%. According to exit polls, more than 76 percent of citizens voted for the amendments.
The referendum is considered valid, as the turnout exceeded the 50% threshold. Amendments to the basic law are considered adopted if more than half of citizens in no less than 12 out of 17 regions of Kazakhstan (14 regions and three cities of republican significance - Nur-Sultan, Almaty and Shymkent) voted for them.
GSV "Russia - Islamic world"
Photo: sco-russia2020.ru/Creative Commons 4.0
Based on materials from TASS