Text of report by the Kazakh news agency Interfax-Kazakhstan on
27th October

Almaty, 27th October: A forum of democratic forces of
Kazakhstan, which took place in Almaty on Wednesday [27th
October], demanded that the authorities "immediately declare
invalid the results" of the elections for the republic's
parliament which were held in September and October, a
resolution adopted by the forum says.

Representatives of opposition political parties and
movements, in particular, the Communist Party, the [Republican]
People' s Party [of Kazakhstan] (RPPK), the Citizen (Azamat)
party and the Progress (Orleu) and Generation (pensioners'
movement) movements as well as a number of other public
associations were at the forum.

The forum does not recognize as legitimate the new
composition of the Senate (upper house) of parliament, which
was elected on 17th September, since it was, in their view,
elected by Regional maslikhats (local representative bodies of
power), "whose term of office had expired by March" this year.
The forum also refused to recognize the legality of the
elections for the Majlis (lower house) of parliament, which
were held on 10th and 24th October, since, the meeting stated,
the electoral process was accompanied by "gross violations of
the existing legislation with harsh dictates from the akimats
(local administrations)". The resolution notes that "in many
areas and, above all, in Almaty" the elections were "directly
rigged or falsified and do not at all reflect the will of the
people" of the republic.

The forum appealed to the leaders of foreign countries and
international organizations "under no circumstances to
recognize" the newly-elected Senate and Majlis of parliament
"as legitimate bodies of power in Kazakhstan".
As was reported earlier, the OSCE mission for monitoring
the parliamentary elections in Kazakhstan this week declared
that they did not meet international democratic standards.
The forum considers it necessary for criminal proceedings
to be instituted against the Central Electoral Commission and
heads of territorial precinct and district commissions which
permitted violations of the existing legislation.

The forum stresses that the current parliament must adopt
a new law on elections to be based on international standards
of democratic law before its term in office expires (by the end
of the year) so that elections to the Majlis and maslikhats and
for heads of areas can be held in the first half of the year in
the republic and the Senate of parliament can be elected in the
second half of the year.

The forum also advocated the need for "a democratic
constitutional reform".

Source: Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency, Almaty, in Russian
0748 gmt 27 Oct 99
BBC Mon CAU 271099/** AJC/KA