Legislative elections were held in Kazakhstan on 15 January 2012. The result was a victory for the Nur Otan party, which won 83 of the 98 seats in the Mäjilis. However, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) stated that the election "did not meet fundamental principles of democratic elections."^[1] The elections marked the first time that the second-placed party would gain parliamentary seats irrespective of whether it cleared the 7% electoral threshold.^[2] Due to the Zhanaozen massacre and the resulting state of emergency there, the election was not planned to be held in Zhanaozen.^[3] However, this decision was overturned on 10 January 2012.^[4]

Quick Facts 98 of the 107 seats in the Mäjilis 54 seats needed for a majority, Registered ...

2012 Kazakh legislative election

← 2007 15 January 2012 2016 →
98 of the 107 seats in the Mäjilis 54 seats needed for a majority
Registered	9,303,693
Turnout	75.44% ( 7.04pp)
Majority party Minority party Third party   Leader Nursultan Nazarbayev Azat Peruashev Vladislav Kosarev Party Nur Otan Ak Zhol QKHP Leader since 1 March 1999 2 July 2011 6 June 2004 Last election 98 - - Seats won 83 8 7 Seat change 15 8 7 Popular vote 5,621,436 518,405 498,788 Percentage 80.99% 7.47% 7.19% Swing 7.41% 4.37% 5.89%
Chairman before election Oral Muhamedjanov Nur Otan Elected Chairman Nurlan Nigmatulin Nur Otan

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In the 2007 Kazakh legislative elections, the pro-presidential party Nur Otan won all the 98 contested seats in the Mazhilis, which eliminated any form of opposition, bringing the Parliament under a single-party control. This received criticism and pressure from international and opposition groups in the country.^[5] In an interview to Reuters, Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Karim Massimov expressed his support of having opposition in the Parliament as in a way of that the democratic reforms match an economic growth.^[6] Following President Nursultan Nazarbayev's reelection in the 2011 presidential election, he announced the promise of bringing a "new era of democratic reforms."^[7] Nazarbayev's advisor Ermukhamet Ertysbayev stated that the next Mazhilis convocation have a two-party system in which he used comparison with the United States and United Kingdom as an example.^[5] Opposition activist Vladimir Kozlov criticized the move, saying that the authorities would not let real opposition groups enter the Parliament.^[5]

The 98 directly-elected deputies of the Mäjilis were elected from a single nationwide constituency by proportional representation with a 7% electoral threshold. Seats were allocated using the largest remainder method. If parties had an equal largest remainder, the party that was registered first was awarded the seat. If only one party crossed the threshold, the party with the second highest number of votes was to be awarded at least two seats.^[10] A further nine seats were elected by the Assembly of People, a body selected by the President.^[11]

The nine nominees were: Sauytbek Abdrahmov, Vladimir Bozhko, Natalya Zhumadildayeva, Roman Kim, Narine Mikaelyan, Ahmet Muradov, Shaimardan Nurumov, Yury Tymochenko and Shakir Khakhazov.^[12]

The opposition claimed there was widespread irregularities and fraud. The OSCE and US Department of State did not recognise the elections as democratic.^[13]

Miklos Haraszti, the head of the OSCE's long-term election-observation mission, criticized what he called a "tightly controlled campaign environment in which the electoral rights of the citizens were seriously limited." "There was limited public debate and the media, the mass media operates in an environment characterized by self-censorship and in which there is no room for editorial independence in the broadcast media." Haraszti said the "results of the election, including the presence of two parties apart from the state party, can be described as an orchestrated election."^[1]