Kazakh pro-presidential party presents election platform

 
Text of report by the Kazakh news agency Interfax-Kazakhstan
At a party congress on 18th August, the pro-presidential Kazakh
Fatherland Party presented its electoral platform based on "a
tough anti-government policy", the party's deputy leader and
the speaker of the lower chamber of parliament (Majlis), told
Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency.

Marat Ospanov said the party platform demanded the immediate resignation of the government
and the"resolute re-orientation"of investment policy. He called
the controversial land bill "yet another unforgivable error on
the part of the government". He said that the party hoped to
win 40-50 per cent of the seats in the Majlis for
single-mandate districts and also 50 per cent of the seats on
party lists. Elections to the upper chamber of the Kazakh
parliament are scheduled for 17th September and for 10th
October for the lower chamber. The following is the text of the
report by the Kazakh news agency Interfax-Kazakhstan:
Almaty, 18th August:

The election platform of Kazakhstan's republican Fatherland [Otan] party is based on "a tough
anti-government policy", the deputy chairman of the party and
the speaker of the Majlis (lower chamber) of the republic's
parliament, Marat Ospanov, told the Interfax-Kazakhstan news
agency in an interview on Wednesday [18th August].
He said that the party hopes to get 40-50 per cent of the
seats in the Majlis for single-mandate districts and also 50
per cent of the seats on party lists.

Elections to the bicameral parliament of Kazakhstan are
scheduled for 17th September (to the Senate) and 10th October
(to the Majlis). Of 77 seats in the Majlis, 10 are to be taken
by deputies elected on party lists. Meanwhile, speaking at a congress of the Fatherland Party
on Wednesday, which was called to discuss its election
platform, Ospanov said that the present government "has made a
complete mess of the tasks it was charged with and it is not
capable of resolving the tasks that the president of Kazakhstan
entrusted it with".

He emphasized that in its election platform Fatherland
demands "the immediate resignation of the government".
In pre-election work, Ospanov noted, "we must level
criticism" at the current government for mistakes and errors in
the sphere of credit and finance policy, in the agricultural
sector and also in resolving social problems. "We should
tirelessly emphasize that the government is not coping with
these issues," he noted.

Ospanov declared that the election platform of Fatherland
proposes "the resolute re-orientation of the investment policy
being pursued". He emphasized that "our country has the richest
science and technology potential and precisely this potential
should be used first of all".

In his speech Ospanov noted that changes were necessary in
the finance and credit policy of the government. "Today the
financial sector of the economy is not working for the state
but the government is working for financial groups," he said.
In his words, "at a time when the budget is cracking at the
seams, a certain stability can be seen in the financial sphere
." Noting the paradox, he believes that "higher taxes should be
imposed on Category 2 banks".

Ospanov described the bill on land as "yet another
unforgivable error on the part of the government", a bill which
was examined by the parliament in its first reading and then
was withdrawn by the government.

The Fatherland Party believes that the bill on land "must
be completely removed from the agenda", Ospanov declared. "The
hasty adoption of the bill on land may lead to the aggravation
of social, economic and political problems of society," he
noted.
Ospanov emphasized that in the event that private
ownership of land is introduced, a majority of the peasants
will not be able to buy land. Given the present-day conditions
"this will lead to the mass purchase of land allotments by
certain rich individuals" in the end, he said.

In Ospanov's words, Fatherland recognizes that the
privatization of land is an important link in the chain of
forming a market system. But "in the presence of a whole range
of unresolved social problems, especially in rural areas, there
is a danger of the monopolization of land allotments and of the
deprivation of most rural people of land," Ospanov said.
"Fatherland is not fascinated by Utopian illusions,"
Ospanov emphasized. The party, in his words, has "a realistic
programme of action". "The methods of resolving the existing
problems that we are proposing must be in the interests of all
the social strata of society," he said.

Ospanov views explantory work as the immediate task in the
period of the election campaign, explanatory work which "must
help voters understand the party's political orientation". "We
should explain to citizens of the republic in what way we are
different from the friendly parties, for example, from the
Civic Party of Kazakhstan", he elucidated. Ospanov also noted
that as for "those who believe that in the forthcoming
elections we hope for unofficial support from the authorities
both in the centre and in the provinces", it is necessary "to
make them change their opinion completely". He emphasized that
Fatherland "does not need such support and we count only on our
own candidates".

The electorate of the Fatherland Party [voters who are
expected to vote for this party in the elections], in Ospanov's
opinion, comprises all the social strata of society. Having
said that, he emphasized that in the main it is entrepreneurs,
workers, the creative intelligentsia and culture staff.
The Fatherland Party was formed at the begining of 1999.
The election headquarters of the candidate for president,
Nursultan Nazarbayev, provided a basis for it. The elections of
the head of state, which Nazarbayev won, took place in January.
The party shares the reform policy being pursued by the present
head of state.

Source: Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency, Almaty, in Russian
0800 gmt 18 Aug 99
BBC Mon CAU 180899/** JF/JBA/AK