Overview

Kazakhstan held the first election to its new unicameral Kurultai on 23 August 2026. Five parties entered the chamber, with the Adilet Party winning 110 of the 145 seats. The election implements the new Constitution approved by referendum in March and replaces the former bicameral Parliament with a chamber elected entirely by nationwide proportional representation.

Final results and seat allocation

According to the final results announced by the Central Election Commission (CEC), five parties cleared the statutory 5% threshold and received seats in the Kurultai.

Composition of the first Kurultai

The 145 seats are distributed across five parliamentary factions. The gender profile of each faction is shown below.

• Women hold 49 of the 145 seats (33.8%), while men hold 96 seats (66.2%). This is a substantial increase from the former Mazhilis, where women held 18 of 98 seats (18.4%).
• Eighteen deputies (12.4%) are in the youth category. Members range in age from 27 to 65; the estimated chamber-wide average is approximately 46.5 years.
• At least 36 deputies (24.8%) have previous national parliamentary experience: 32 in the Mazhilis and four in the Senate. The remaining 109 deputies (75.2%) are entering the national Parliament for the first time, although some have served in local maslikhats or public advisory bodies.
• The leaders of all five parties represented in the chamber received mandates.

Profile of the Adilet faction

• Adilet’s 110-member faction includes 37 women (33.6%), 13 youth representatives (11.8%) and two persons with disabilities (1.8%). It also includes 21 representatives of other ethnic groups (19%), and the average age is 46.7 years.
• Twenty-four members have previous national parliamentary experience, including 20 former Mazhilis deputies and four former senators. The faction also includes 26 former maslikhat deputies and 13 former members of the National Kurultai, the presidential consultative body.
• Ten members belong to the Presidential Youth Personnel Reserve, four serve on the Council for Youth Policy under the President, and five sit on the National Commission on Women’s Affairs and Family and Demographic Policy.
• Its professional mix includes three environmental specialists, two representatives of the volunteer movement and four IT professionals.

Why this election matters

• It is the first nationwide vote under the Constitution adopted on 15 March 2026 by 87.15% of referendum participants on 73.12% turnout. The Constitution entered into force on 1 July.
• The election completes the transition from the former Senate and Mazhilis to a single 145-member Kurultai. All deputies (members of parliament) are elected for five years under the same nationwide rules; there are no appointed parliamentary seats or single-member constituency races.
• The new Kurultai will immediately shape the institutional transition. The Government must resign its powers before the newly elected chamber; the Kurultai will consider presidential nominations for offices including the Vice President and Prime Minister and will exercise legislative, budgetary, appointment-consent and government-accountability powers.
• The President has convened the first session for 28 August 2026 in Astana. The chamber’s composition will therefore affect the pace of implementing the new constitutional framework and the policy agenda presented to international partners.
• Final turnout was considerably higher than the 54.21% recorded in the 2023 parliamentary election and broadly comparable to the 73.12% turnout in the March 2026 constitutional referendum.

Who participated

All seven registered political parties fielded nationwide lists: Adilet, the Nationwide Social Democratic Party, Baytaq, the People’s Party of Kazakhstan, Auyl, Ak Zhol and Respublica. Adilet is a new party into which the former governing Amanat Party merged in June 2026.

The CEC registered 545 candidates. They included 172 women, 74 candidates aged 35 or younger and 19 persons with disabilities; the combined share of these three categories was 43.9%, and the average candidate age was 45.4. Every party met the legal requirement that these groups collectively make up at least 30% of its candidate list.

How winners were chosen

1. Each voter cast one secret ballot for a nationwide party list or selected the Against all option.
2. Parties receiving at least 5% of votes cast participated in the allocation of all 145 mandates.
3. Votes for qualifying parties were divided by a national electoral quota; whole seats were assigned first, and the remaining seats went to the parties with the largest fractional remainders.
4. Following publication of the final results, each qualifying party’s governing body determined which registered candidates would receive its mandates. The lists of all five factions were announced by 27 August. At least 30% of each party’s mandates had to go collectively to women, youth and persons with disabilities.

Participation at home and abroad

The CEC reported 12,623,289 registered voters. Final participation was 9,351,539 voters, equal to 74.08%. According to the CEC’s 20:00 election-night reporting, turnout ranged from 43.23% in Almaty and 51.67% in Astana to 92.16% in Turkistan Region.

Voting took place at 10,423 polling stations, including 79 stations at Kazakh missions in 61 countries. Overseas voter lists contained 11,402 citizens. A total of 9,623 Kazakh citizens cast their ballots abroad, representing a voter turnout of 84.4% among registered overseas voters.

How the election was conducted

• Polling generally ran from 07:00 to 20:00 local time. Special stations, including those in hospitals, military units, remote areas and diplomatic missions, could close early if every listed voter had voted.
• Home voting was available on request for voters unable to attend because of health, care responsibilities or location in remote areas. Voters could verify registration through local authorities and a digital-government service.
• Accessibility measures included bilingual Braille ballot templates at every station and dedicated information points, large monitors, headphones, magnifiers and additional lighting.
• Precinct commissions began counting after polls closed. The law limited precinct counting to 12 hours; territorial commissions transmitted tabulation data to the CEC, which announced the final result on 25 August.

International observation and assessments

The CEC accredited 777 international observers: 160 from 42 foreign states and 617 representing 13 international organisations. They included 138 parliamentarians from 41 countries, as well as representatives of election-management bodies from 22 states, including 11 commission chairs.

• OSCE/ODIHR-led International Election Observation Mission (with OSCE PA and PACE): its preliminary statement described the election as technically well prepared, the campaign as generally calm and orderly, and opening and voting as overwhelmingly positive. It also identified limited political pluralism and raised concerns about aspects of transparency. A comprehensive final report will follow.
• CIS Observer Mission: its interim report described the campaign as calm and organised, said parties campaigned without obstruction and noted broad opportunities and equal conditions. On election day, mission head Igor Petrishenko also praised the organisation of polling and election-commission support for voters. The CIS Observer Mission concluded that the elections were conducted at a high organisational level and described them as fair, competitive and open and as having been conducted in accordance with Kazakhstan’s legislation.
• Shanghai Cooperation Organisation: Deputy Secretary-General T.R. Midhun said the mission had received no complaints and observed no violations during its first-half visits, while stressing that a final assessment would follow completion of all stages.
• Organization of Turkic States: Deputy Secretary-General Nuru Guliyev said voting was open, complied with Kazakhstan’s legislation and protected ballot secrecy.

What happens next

• The first session of the first Kurultai will take place on 28 August 2026 at 11:00 in Astana.
• The chamber will begin forming its leadership, political factions, committees and other working bodies and will take up appointments requiring its consent.
• The Government must resign its powers before the newly elected Kurultai. The President then considers whether to accept or reject the resignation within 10 days; formation of the Government, including the Kurultai’s consent to the Prime Minister, follows.