Mayors of districts and cities of regional importance in Kazakhstan are elected only through direct elections. Head of State Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev stated this in his address to the people of Kazakhstan, the national portal "Adyrna" reported.
"Another demand of our citizens in recent years is to introduce a system of direct election of mayors. This demand has also been fulfilled.
The system of direct election of village mayors was introduced in 2021. Since then, about 2,500 mayors have been elected. This means almost 90 percent of all village mayors. The rest will be elected in their order when the term of office of the mayor ends. 60 percent of the new mayors have not worked in public service before. Among them there are various business owners and representatives of various parties. The average age is 46 years. In a word, the composition of the governors elected by the people has been significantly renewed.
Last autumn, for the first time, we started to elect district and regional city mayors. 45 mayors were elected in a new way in all regions. We thoroughly studied the results of the election and the work of the elected governors. As a result, we made a radical decision. Starting next year, we will permanently switch to the new system. From now on, mayors of district and cities of regional importance will be elected only through direct elections. Elections will be held gradually as the term of office of governors expires, that is, when the rotation period is reached. This is another important step in the process of reforming the political system. Political reform is not a one-time campaign. If it is necessary for the development of the state, the reforms will continue like this," said Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev.
