--- title: "Kazakhstan Votes for a New Kurultai: 545 Candidates and 145 Seats in a Unicameral Parliament" description: "On August 23, 2026, 10,423 polling stations opened in Kazakhstan for the election of the new unicameral Kurultai of 145 deputies. More than 12.6 million voters are casting ballots, choosing from 545 candidates of seven parties." date: 2026-08-23T11:54:40.000Z lang: en url: https://xab.info/en/posts/kazakhstan-kurultay-elections-2026 tags: [kazakhstan, kurultay, parliament-elections, constitution-reform, voting] publisher: "XAB.info" --- # Kazakhstan Votes for a New Kurultai: 545 Candidates and 145 Seats in a Unicameral Parliament ![Voting in the Kurultai elections: a woman casts her ballot in a transparent box](https://xab.info/media/2026/08/23/kazakhstan-vybory-v-kurultay-2026/kazakhstan-vybory-v-kurultay-2026-1.webp) ## 🎯 Key Points - On August 23, 2026, polling stations opened in Kazakhstan for voting in the new unicameral Kurultai. - The elections feature 545 candidates from 7 parties; 10,423 polling stations have been set up nationwide, with more than 12.6 million voters registered. - The new constitution, which came into force on July 1, establishes a unicameral parliament of 145 deputies for a 5-year term, abolishing the previous bicameral system. - International observers, including the head of the TürkPA mission, called the elections a historic event. On August 23, 2026, polling stations opened across Kazakhstan, where citizens are casting their votes in the election for the country's new unicameral parliament — the Kurultai. According to the Central Election Commission, voting began at 7:00 a.m. local time. The campaign features 545 candidates nominated by seven political parties, making these elections one of the key political events of the year and the final stage of a constitutional reform that has restructured the entire system of representative power in the country. ### A Historic Transition to a Unicameral System The main innovation defining the nature of these elections is Kazakhstan's new constitution, which came into force on July 1, 2026. The document provides for the creation of a unicameral parliament of 145 deputies elected for a five-year term. This marks a decisive break with the previous model, under which legislative power was bicameral, consisting of a lower chamber — the Mäjilis — and an upper chamber. Thus, voters are casting their ballots for the first time in a fully renewed, simplified, and — by the reformers' design — more efficient legislative body. ### The Scale of Voting The organizational infrastructure of the elections covers the entire territory of the country: 10,423 polling stations have been set up nationwide, with more than 12.6 million voters registered. This scale makes Kurultai-2026 one of the largest single-day votes in Kazakhstan's recent history and requires substantial logistical and administrative preparation at the local level, from opening the stations at 7:00 a.m. to counting the votes at the end of the day. ### Assessment by International Observers The course of the elections has attracted the attention of foreign diplomats and international organizations. The head of the Turkic Council (TürkPA) mission called the Kurultai elections a historic event for the country, while a number of foreign diplomats, assessing the process, stated that Kazakhstan is showing the world how democracy works. These assessments reflect the foreign-policy accompaniment of the reform and an attempt to present the new parliamentary format as an element of modernizing the political system. ### Contradictory Data In publications devoted to election day, there is an inconsistency in which specific snapshot of the process they reflect. Some materials record the opening of polling stations and the start of voting at 7:00 a.m. as the main event of August 23. At the same time, certain sources already report a turnout exceeding 65%, which is characteristic not of the moment of opening but of an intermediate or final stage of the count. The discrepancy is probably explained by different publication and data-update timeframes; however, for the reader this means that the turnout figures and the fact of the "start of voting" refer to different points in the same day and should not be considered mutually exclusive. ## 🔍 Fact-Check Verification - [General elections have begun in Kazakhstan.](https://www.vietnam.vn/ru/kazakhstan-bat-dau-tong-tuyen-cu) - Подтверждает старт голосования 23 августа и параметры выборов. - [Head of the TürkPA mission called the Kurultai elections a historic event](https://kazpravda.kz/n/glava-missii-tyurkpa-nazval-vybory-v-kurultay-istoricheskim-sobytiem/) - Даёт цитату главы миссии ТюркПА об историческом характере выборов. - ["Kazakhstan is showing the world how democracy works": foreign diplomats assess the course of the elections ...](https://liter.kz/kazakhstan-pokazyvaet-miru-kak-rabotaet-demokratiia-inostrannye-diplomaty-otsenili-khod-vyborov-v-kurultai-1787485970/) - Подтверждает оценки иностранных дипломатов хода голосования. - [Turnout in the Kurultai elections exceeds 65%](https://ru.trend.az/casia/kazakhstan/4217352.html) - Сообщает о явке >65%, что относится к промежуточному/итоговому срезу и создаёт временну́ю нестыковку с фиксацией 'открытия участков'. ## ❓ FAQ ### Q: How many deputies will the new Kurultai have? **A:** The new unicameral Kurultai will consist of 145 deputies elected for a five-year term under the new constitution, which came into force on July 1, 2026. ### Q: How many polling stations and voters are there in Kazakhstan? **A:** 10,423 polling stations have been set up nationwide, with more than 12.6 million voters registered. ### Q: How many candidates and parties are taking part in the elections? **A:** The elections feature 545 candidates nominated by seven political parties. ### Q: How does the new parliament differ from the previous one? **A:** Previously the parliament was bicameral (the Mäjilis and an upper chamber); under the new constitution it is now unicameral — the Kurultai of 145 deputies.