Today – On October 6, Kazakhstan will hold a republican referendum on the construction of nuclear power plants. The referendum will be monitored by 177 international observers from 30 foreign countries, including four major international organizations.
„Among the international organizations involved in monitoring the referendum are the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the Organization of Turkic States, the Conference on Cooperation and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia,” said the secretary of the Central Election Commission. of Kazakhstan Mukhtar Erman.
162 foreign journalists from 38 media outlets from 14 countries are accredited to work permanently and have the right to observe the referendum. 38 foreign journalists received temporary accreditation directly for the referendum.
On October 4, the information campaign of the referendum on the construction of a nuclear power plant in Kazakhstan, which lasted exactly 400 days, ended.
„In the political history of modern Kazakhstan, this is perhaps the longest campaign. Why 400 days? Because the President of Kazakhstan first expressed the idea of holding a referendum last year - on September 1, 2023. This day actually became the beginning of a big referendum campaign, said the State Councilor of the Republic of Kazakhstan Erlan Karin.
During this time, public hearings were held in every region of the country and substantial discussions of experts and public activists took place in the information space.
„During the campaign, the social forces of the country were consolidated for the first time not for political, but for economic reasons. On the initiative of the party “Amanat“ 6 political parties and over 20 public associations created a People's Headquarters “For the Construction of Nuclear Power Plants”, noted Erlan Karin.
„The referendum is considered valid if more than half of the citizens included in the voting list participate in it. The list includes 12,244,683 citizens with the right to vote. The constitutional law states that everyone votes in person. Therefore, mass visits to the voting booths two at a time are not allowed”, said the Deputy Chairman of the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Kazakhstan Konstantin Petrov.
More than 10,000 polling stations will be opened throughout the country. Public service centers will operate in 196 of the sections, which will be able to register persons who do not have a residence permit. Registration will be done by site location. This was done to allow residents who do not have a residence permit to vote.
Citizens of Kazakhstan who are abroad will be able to participate in the referendum. To do this, they will need to contact the diplomatic or consular representation of Kazakhstan in the host country, where the district commission for the referendum has been opened. There are 74 polling stations open for voting abroad in 59 countries, including in Sofia. Voting will take place from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. local time.