At stake in this election:

• The office of President of Kazakhstan

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: President Nursultan Abishevich NAZARBAYEV
• Head of Government: Prime Minister Karim MASIMOV
• Assembly: Kazakhstan has a bicameral Parliament consisting of the Senate with 39 seats and the House of Representatives (Mazhilis) with 107 seats.

Description of electoral system:

• The President is elected by simple majority vote to serve a 7-year term.
• The Prime Minister is appointed by the president with the approval of the parliament.
• In the Senate, 7 members are appointed by the president to serve 6-year terms and 32 members are indirectly elected by regional legislatures to serve 6-year terms*. In the House of Representatives (Mazhilis), 98 members are elected through a closed-list proportional representation system to serve 5-year terms and 9 members are appointed to serve 5-year terms.**

* In the Senate, 7 members are appointed by the president and 32 are indirectly elected by oblast-level government bodies, all to serve 6-year terms.

** Under Election Law enacted in June 2007, 98 of the 107 Majilis deputies are elected via a proportional system. The PR tier is one, nationwide district with a seven percent threshold. The remaining nine deputies are chosen by the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan, an unelected body containing 364 members formed by the President of Kazakhstan.

Main Candidates in the Presidential race:

• Nursultan Abishevich NAZARBAYEV
  • Party: Fatherland Party / Otan
• Gani E. KASYMOV
  • Party: Kazakhstan Patriots Party
• Zhambyl AHMETBEKOV
  • Party: Communist People's Party of Kazakhstan
• Mels Khamzayevich ELEUSIZOV*****
  • Party: Independent Candidate

***** Mels Khamzayevich ELEUSIZOV is a representative of the ecological union "Tabigat"

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 16,556,600 (2011)
• Registered Voters: 9,200,298 (2011)

Gender Data:

·         Female Population: 8,571,495 (2011)

·         Is Kazakhstan a signatory to CEDAW: N/A

·         Has Kazakhstan ratified CEDAW: Yes, accession (26 August 1998)

·         Gender Quota: No

·         Female candidates in this election: No

·         Number of Female Parliamentarians: 17 (Assembly) following the 2007 elections; 2 (Senate) following the 2011 elections

·         Human Development Index Position: 56 (2014)

·         Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: Low (2014)

Disability Data:

·         Is Kazakhstan a signatory to CRPD: Yes (11 December 2008)

·         Has Kazakhstan ratified CRPD: Yes (21 April 2015)

·         Population with a disability: 2,483,490 (est.)