The spokeswoman of the European External Action Service denounced, on Monday 10 June, many shortcomings during the presidential election in Kazakhstan the day before, which saw the victory of Kassym-Jomart Tokayev with 70.8% of the vote.
Taking up the preliminary conclusions of the OSCE/ODIHR election observation mission, the spokesperson considered that the election had been “tarnished by clear violations of fundamental freedoms as well as pressure on critical voices”. Thus, the day of the election was marked by the arrest of several hundred peaceful demonstrators.
In addition, although, according to the mission, the election was effectively managed, “significant irregularities were observed across the country”. These include cases of ballot stuffing, collective voting and identical sets of signatures on electoral lists. The count was also negatively assessed in more than half of the observations, the spokesperson added.
Faced with these many shortcomings, the EEAS spokesperson called on Kazakhstan “to address these violations, as well as the controlled legal and political electoral framework, as they run counter to the country's OSCE commitments and international obligations”.
She also said that the EU looked forward to working with the new President, including on reforms to strengthen the promotion and protection of fundamental freedoms and human rights, respect for democratic principles, the rule of law and good governance. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)