Text of report by the Kazakh news agency Interfax-Kazakhstan on
22nd September

Almaty, 22nd September: Four independent candidates for a
deputy of the Majlis (the lower chamber) of Kazakhstan's
parliament, including the former secretary of the Security
Council of the republic, Baltash Tursumbayev, have jointly
formed an election "Centre" bloc. Besides, a candidate for a
deputy of the Kustanay Region maslikhat (a local representative
body of power, in the north of the republic) joined the bloc.
Tursumbayev declared this at a news conference on Wednesday
[22nd September].

Apart from him, the bloc is made up of candidates for a
deputy of the Majlis, Dastan Kadyrzhanov, Ramazan Yesergepov,
Petr Komov, and a candidate for a deputy of the Region's
maslikhat, Valentin Mikhailov.

In Tursumbayev's words, "there is [political]
confrontation in Kazakhstan now between the party of the
authorities, Fatherland (Otan), and opposition parties". "We
want to take a centrist position and are calling for the
consolidation of the people around this centre, which comprises
of people who have decided to really implement reforms," he
emphasized.

Kadyrzhanov, who was present at the news conference, has
announced that every "centrist" candidate "has its own
precisely worked out platform", but all the members of the bloc
are campaigning "for a change in the existing system of
distribution of material goods and for a revision of those
privatization contracts under which the country's riches have
been sold for very little".

In his opinion, opposition parties are calling "not for a
change in the whole of the system of distribution of material
goods but only for the replacement of persons".
In Tursumbayev's words, in future, after the parliamentary
elections, a public movement or a political party will be set
up on the basis of the election "Centre" bloc.

At the news conference, Tusumbayev commented on his open
address to the president of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev,
an address which was ciculated yesterday. He emphasized that he
had "appealed to the head of state as a guarantor of the
constitution". Tursumbayev announced that the Kustanay
electoral commission had been presented with all the assertions
that there had been cases of violation of the electoral law
against independent candidates. But, he said, the commission
has responded - that a check had not confirmed these assertions.

Tusumbayev hopes that Kazakhstan's president will send a
special commission to Kustanay Region to check electoral law
violation claims.
Elections to Kazakhstan's Majlis and maslikhats of all
levels are scheduled for 10th October.

Source: Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency, Almaty, in Russian
1054 gmt 22 Sep 99
BBC Mon CAU 220999/** AJBA/AK