Status of candidates

1. All candidates shall have equal rights and bear equal responsibilities unless otherwise is provided for by this Constitutional Law.

2. Candidates holding state and municipal positions as well as positions of heads of state and municipal enterprises and institutions, agencies with the state (municipal) share of more than 30% and their branch offices, may not take advantage of their official capacity or employment status.

3. According to this Constitutional Law, taking advantage of official capacity or employment status implies the following:

1) involvement of subordinates or dependent officers, or other government and municipal officers on duty into activities promoting the nomination and (or) election processes;
2) use of premises occupied by state power bodies or local governments for nomination and (or) election purposes where other candidates cannot use the same premises under the same terms and conditions;
3) use of telephone, fax and other communication means, information services, office equipment ensuring functioning of state institutions or local governments for the purposes of nomination and (or) election;
4) free or privileged use of the vehicles belonging to the state and local government bodies for the purposes of nomination or election;
5) collecting signatures and conducting election campaign by state or municipal officials during their business trips;
6) superiority in getting access to mass media (compared to other candidates) for the
purpose of collecting signatures or campaigning.

4. Observance of the restrictions listed in Para 3 of this Article must not impede implementation of official duties by elective officials.

5. Registered candidates holding state political positions except the Jogorku Kenesh deputies and the President, administrative state and municipal positions or working with mass media must suspend their official capacity or employment status from the moment of registration till announcement of elections results.

6. Heads of state power bodies, local governments, companies, enterprises, institutions and organizations, heads of military units and other officials of the bodies, where the registered candidate works or serves, must suspend his/her duties with preservation of his/her average salary rate at the expense of that institution, enterprise or organization regardless of the form of ownership within 3 calendar days from the moment of the application/report of the candidate.

7. No later than 5 calendar days from the moment of registration, candidates or their authorized representatives and authorized representatives of political parties shall submit certified copies of the appropriate orders to the CEC. 

8. At the time of registration the CEC responsible for registration of candidates and candidate lists must inform the candidate and authorized representatives of political parties about the abovementioned circumstances.

9. During the elections the registered candidates may not be dismissed from their job (position) on the initiative of their administration (employer) or transferred to another job (position) without their consent.
The period of the registered candidate’s participation in the elections shall be included into his/her overall work record with the statement of the specialty in which he/she had been working before his/her registration as a candidate.

10. A registered candidate may not be brought to criminal responsibility, detained, arrested or subject to administrative penalties inflicted by court before official declaration of election results via mass media without consent of the CEC except for the cases of being caught in the act. Institution of a criminal case may not be a reason for barring candidate from implementing his/her right to be elected.

11. A registered candidate shall lose the rights and be released from obligations related to the status of a candidate since official declaration of election results in mass media by the election commission; the same shall take place in case of the candidate’s early withdrawal - from the time of withdrawal. In the event that the election commission takes a decision to hold a repeat voting, those registered candidates, who are not going through the repeat voting shall cease to be candidates from the time of the repeat voting.

12. Candidates and political parties shall be entitled to appoint representatives in election commissions, authorized representatives and proxies in accordance with the procedures specified in this Constitutional Law. In the cases provided for by this Constitutional Law, candidates and political parties shall bear responsibility for the actions of their representatives related to violation by them of the provisions of this Constitutional Law.