The article focuses on a comparative analysis of the common and specific elements of the electoral systems of the Central Asian states.
How are presidents elected in Central Asia?
All Central Asian countries are characterized by strong presidential power. Recently, Kyrgyzstan, where there was a mixed presidential-parliamentary system, returned to the presidential form of government. However, each country has its own characteristics and traditions of electing heads of state and deputies.
Kazakhstan
The president of Kazakhstan is directly elected by an absolute majority of votes for a five-year term. If no candidate receives more than 50 per cent of the votes, a second round is held within two months between the two candidates who obtained the highest number of votes. In the second round, the candidate who receives the highest number of votes is elected.
Presidential candidates may be nominated by public associations, including political parties. In 2018, amendments to the election law abolished the possibility for self-nomination of candidates. Prospective candidates must be citizens by birth, at least 40 years old, fluent in the Kazakh language and have officially resided in Kazakhstan for the past 15 years. Following amendments to the constitution and the election law in 2017, candidates are also required to have a higher education and at least five years of experience in public service or elected office.
It is noteworthy that the current president of Kazakhstan, professional diplomat Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, as a candidate for president in 2019, applied to the Constitutional Council for clarification of the counting of residence in Kazakhstan due to his work in the country's foreign institutions and international organisations. The Constitutional Council ruled that periods of residence outside Kazakhstan of citizens who belong to the staff of Kazakhstan's diplomatic service and persons of equivalent status assigned to international organisations also count towards the fifteen-year period of residence.
Each candidate must collect signatures from at least 1% of the total number of registered voters (118,140 for the 2019 elections), equally representing at least two thirds of the regions and cities of national importance, as well as the capital. In addition, they must pay an electoral contribution of about 50 minimum wages. Until 2022, the minimum wage was 42,500 tenge and for the 2019 presidential election, the amount of the contribution was 2,125,000 tenge, or just over 5,500 USD at the exchange rate at the time. In 2022, the minimum wage was raised to 60,000 thousand tenge. Candidates must also file tax returns for themselves and their spouse.
Kyrgyzstan
According to the Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic, the president can be elected for two five-year terms by direct vote. The candidate who obtains more than half of the votes in the first round is declared the winner. If no candidate receives the required majority, a second round is held between the two candidates with the highest number of votes within 20 days after the results of the first round are announced.
Candidates may be citizens between the ages of 35 and 70 with the right to vote, who have lived in the country for a total of more than 15 years and who speak the national language. Candidates may be self-nominated or nominated by political parties. To register as candidates, nominees must submit signature sheets with at least 30,000 voters, form an election fund and pay an election deposit of one million soms (approximately 9,500 USD at the mid-March 2022 exchange rate).
Kyrgyz citizens who have not expunged their criminal record as prescribed by law are ineligible to run for president. As is known, the current president of Kyrgyzstan, Sadyr Japarov, was released from prison on the night of 6 October 2020 during the mass unrest in Bishkek. Earlier, Japarov had been charged with two criminal cases - violent seizure of power and hostage-taking, which he and his supporters believed to be politically fabricated cases. Shortly after his release, Sadyr Japarov was acquitted in one case and, in the second, the criminal case was again reviewed and closed due to lack of corpus delicti, effectively quashing the previous conviction. These circumstances enabled Japarov to stand as a candidate for the office of the President of the country.
Tajikistan
The president of Tajikistan is elected by direct popular vote for a seven-year term by an absolute majority of voters. If no candidate receives more than 50 per cent of the vote, a second round is held between the two leading candidates. According to the Constitution, an election can be considered valid if at least 50 per cent of registered voters participate in the ballot.
Citizens of Tajikistan who have no other citizenship, are at least 30 years old, speak the state language, have received a higher education and have resided in the country for at least the last 10 years may stand as candidates for president. Persons with a criminal record, as well as professional ministers of religious organisations are not eligible for election.
Candidates may be nominated by political parties, the Federation of Trade Unions, the Youth Association, regional and city councils, and the assembly of city and district councils of people's deputies. Nominated candidates must collect signatures in support of at least 5% of voters (some 245,000 signatures), a relatively high requirement compared to neighbouring states. The legislation maintains the prohibition of self-nomination of independent candidates.
The constitution and other legislation confer a special status and unique legal privileges on the incumbent as "Founder of Peace and National Unity - Leader of the Nation". According to the country's constitution, consecutive terms in office are limited to two terms. The 2016 constitutional amendments exempted the incumbent from this restriction.
Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan's last early presidential election was held on 12 March 2022, won by Serdar Berdymukhamedov, the prime minister and son of the incumbent president. This was the second presidential election since Parliament adopted the country's new constitution, which increased the presidential term from 5 to 7 years.
According to the country's main law, eligible citizens over the age of 40, with no criminal record and who have lived in the country for the past 15 years are eligible to run for president. Candidates may be nominated by political parties or a group of voters.
To be elected, a candidate must win at least half of all votes received. If no candidate succeeds, a second round is held within two weeks between the two leading candidates. If only two candidates participate in the first round and no candidate receives more than half of the votes cast, a repeat election is held within three months.
Previously, the age limit for presidential candidates was 70, but this was abolished in 2016. The innovation allows the current president to run for office an unlimited number of times, as there is no limit in Turkmen law on the number of terms he can serve as president. However, in February 2022, the now outgoing president of Turkmenistan, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, announced his intention to give up his post to the young leader, leaving only the post of chairman of the country's Khalk Maslakhaty (upper house of parliament).
Candidates from political parties must be nominated at congresses, and candidates from groups of voters must be supported by signatures of at least 10,000 voters, with at least 300 signatures collected in each of at least a third of the country's districts and cities. Voters may sign in support of only one candidate.
Uzbekistan
According to the Constitution and the Electoral Code of Uzbekistan, the President of Uzbekistan is directly elected for a term of five years for no more than two consecutive terms. A citizen of Uzbekistan who is at least 35 years old, fluent in the State language (i.e. Uzbek) and has resided permanently in Uzbekistan for at least 10 years immediately prior to the election may be elected head of state.
A presidential candidate must be nominated by a political party that is registered with the Ministry of Justice of Uzbekistan at least four months before the date of the announcement of the beginning of the election campaign.
In the event that no candidate receives more than half of the votes of voters who participated in the election - there is a repeat vote, in which the two candidates who obtained the highest number of votes participate.
Only political parties registered with the Ministry of Justice at least four months prior to the announcement of elections are entitled to nominate presidential candidates. A candidate must be supported by the signatures of at least 1% of voters (about 200,000 voters) collected in at least 13 of the 14 administrative units. Voters may sign for more than one candidate.
How are members of parliament elected?
While the requirements and rules for the election of presidents in Central Asia are more or less the same, the higher representative bodies - parliaments - are not straightforward and have their own peculiarities.
For example, four of the five countries in the region have bicameral parliaments. The president's quota in the upper house is 30 per cent in Kazakhstan, 24 per cent in Tajikistan, 15 per cent in Turkmenistan and 16 per cent of the upper house deputies are appointed by the president in Uzbekistan. The remaining deputies are elected.
Kazakhstan
The bicameral Parliament of Kazakhstan consists of 107 Majilis deputies and 47 senators. Ninety-eight deputies of the Majilis are elected by popular vote from a nationwide constituency for a five-year term under a proportional electoral system. The remaining nine deputies are elected by the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan, an advisory body formed by the president and representing the country's various ethnic groups. Members of the Senate serve a term of six years.
To qualify for parliamentary mandates, parties must obtain at least 7 per cent of the total number of votes cast. If only one party passes the threshold, the party with the second highest number of votes also participates in the distribution of seats and receives at least two seats. Places for individual candidates on the lists are allocated by the parties that entered the Majilis, and parties are not restricted by any order in the list.
Candidates may only be nominated by six registered political parties. Following recent amendments to the law on political parties, the minimum number of party members required for party registration was halved from 40,000 to 20,000, with at least 600 members per branch in each oblast and cities of Almaty, Nur-Sultan and Shymkent.
Voters at least 25 years old who have permanently resided in Kazakhstan for the last 10 years are eligible to stand in parliamentary elections. The election law further limits candidacy rights to citizens with an unexpunged criminal record and those found guilty of corruption offences. Self-nomination of candidates and formation of electoral blocs are not allowed and a political party has no right to nominate candidates other than its members.
Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan's new constitution came into force in May 2021, reducing the number of seats in parliament from 120 to 90. The last parliamentary elections were held under a mixed (proportional-majoritarian) electoral system. Of the 90 members of parliament, 54 are elected from open party lists in a single republican constituency.
The national threshold for parties is 5 per cent and the regional threshold is 0.5 per cent in each of the seven regions and two cities, and despite the number of votes received, a political party is limited to a maximum of 27 seats. The remaining 36 deputies are elected in single-mandate constituencies, where the candidate with the highest number of votes is declared the winner.
Voters aged 25 and over are eligible to stand for election. Nomination in the single nationwide constituency is by party lists. For single-mandate constituencies, candidates may be nominated either by political parties or by self-nomination. Parties may nominate up to 54 candidates in a single nationwide constituency and one candidate from each single-mandate constituency, while independent candidates may only run in single-mandate constituencies.
In order to register candidates on party lists or in single-mandate districts, participants must pay a deposit of one million KGS (about US $9,500, at the mid-March 2022 exchange rate) and 100,000 KGS (about US $950), respectively. The list of candidates must include at least 30 per cent of each gender, with the least represented gender occupying at least every fourth place on the list. By law, each participating party must include at least two persons with disabilities on the list of candidates, one of whom must be among the first 25 names.
Tajikistan
Legislative power in Tajikistan belongs to the bicameral Supreme Assembly - Majlisi Oli, which consists of a directly elected lower chamber (Majlisi Namoyandagon) and an indirectly elected upper chamber (Majlisi Milli), elected for five-year terms.
Elections to the Majlisi Namoyandagon follow a mixed (proportional-majoritarian) model. Of the 63 members, 41 are elected in single-member districts, while the remaining 22 are elected through a proportional closed-list system with a five per cent threshold. A 50 per cent turnout is required for the election to be valid, failing which a repeat election is required.
The Majlisi Milli of the Republic of Tajikistan consists of 33 members, 25 of whom are elected by secret ballot in joint sessions of deputies from Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast, its cities and districts, Dushanbe city and its districts, cities and districts of republican subordination. Eight members are appointed by the President of Tajikistan.
Constitutional amendments in 2016 raised the minimum age for participation in parliamentary elections from 25 to 30 and banned political parties based on religious platforms. Citizens with higher education, knowledge of the state language and proof of residence in Tajikistan for the last five years are eligible to stand for election. Military personnel, law enforcement officials and religious figures are not eligible to run for office. Persons convicted of any offence whose criminal record has not been expunged, as well as those under investigation for a serious crime, are ineligible to stand for election.
Each candidate, whether on the party list or under the majoritarian system, must pay an electoral deposit of 5,800 somoni (approximately US$450 at mid-March 2022 exchange rate) in order to be registered. Independent candidates must collect an additional 500 support signatures.
Turkmenistan
As of the first of January 2021, Turkmenistan has moved from a unicameral parliament to a bicameral parliament. The Mejlis, which had previously been the sole and unicameral parliament of the country, now became the lower house, and the Khalk Maslakhaty, which had previously existed as a separate body from the Mejlis, became the upper house. The new, bicameral parliament was renamed Milli Geňeş (National Assembly or National Council).
Milli Gengesh's lower house, the 125-member Majlis, is directly elected for five-year terms in single-member districts. To be elected, a candidate must receive more than 50 per cent of the vote. If no candidate receives more than half the votes in the first round, a second round is held within two weeks between the two leaders. The second round is held within two weeks between the top two candidates in the first round. A citizen of Turkmenistan who has reached the age of 25, irrespective of gender, nationality, language, religion, origin or social status, and who has permanently resided in the country for the previous ten years, may be elected as a member of the Mejlis.
The Khalk Maslakhaty, the upper house of the Milli Gengesh, consists of 56 members. Of these, 48 are elected from each province (oblast) and the city of Ashgabat, through indirect suffrage by secret ballot at meetings of the regional Khalk Maslakhat in the five oblasts and the city of Ashgabat, and eight members are appointed by the President of Turkmenistan. A citizen of Turkmenistan who has reached the age of 30, irrespective of gender, nationality, language or religion, has at least one higher education and has permanently resided in the country for the previous ten years, may be elected or appointed to the Khalk Maslakhaty. Interestingly, every former president of Turkmenistan automatically becomes a lifetime member of the Khalk Maslakhaty, unless he or she waives this right.
Uzbekistan
The parliament of Uzbekistan, the Oliy Majlis, consists of two chambers - the Senate consisting of 100 members and the lower chamber consisting of 150 members; both chambers serve for a term of five years. The Senate is based on territorial representation, with six members indirectly elected from each of the 12 oblasts, Tashkent city and the Republic of Karakalpakstan, and 16 senators appointed by the president.
Candidates must be at least 25 years old and have permanently resided in Uzbekistan for at least the last five years. Citizens declared incompetent by a court decision, those with an unexpunged or unexpunged criminal record for committing grave or particularly grave crimes, serving members of the armed forces or security services, and professional clergy of religious organisations are not eligible for election.
There is a 30 per cent quota for women candidates, although the Electoral Code does not provide for any sanctions in case of non-compliance with the legal quota and does not provide for any incentives or penalties.
Members of the lower house are elected in single-mandate majoritarian districts. If no candidate receives a majority of the votes cast, a run-off is held two weeks later between the two leading candidates. No minimum voter turnout is required for an election to be valid. Local and regional council elections are held simultaneously with parliamentary elections.
Registered political parties must submit the necessary documents, including at least 40,000 support signatures, for the CEC to allow them to nominate candidates in majoritarian constituencies.