Kazakhstan Parliamentary election 2026 (Kurultai — Құрылтай) — Results

At a glance

Kazakhstan elected its first unicameral parliament on 23 August 2026, choosing all 145 deputies of the new Kurultai. The pro-presidential party Ädilet won 71.17% of the vote and 110 of the 145 seats, well past the 73 needed for a majority. Turnout was 74.08% — 19.87 percentage points above the 2023 Mäjilis election, and the highest for a Kazakh legislative election in years. Four other parties cleared the 5% threshold; two did not. The Central Election Commission published preliminary results on 24 August and certified the final count on 25 August.

The result

Party	Votes	Vote %	Seats
Ädilet	6,528,948	71.17	110
Auyl	574,621	6.26	10
Respublica	509,631	5.56	9
Aq Jol	478,083	5.21	8
JSDP (Social Democrats)	469,058	5.11	8
QHP (People's Party)	285,395	3.11	0
Against all	230,446	2.51	—
Baytaq	97,751	1.07	0

Shares are of the 9,173,933 valid ballots; a further 177,616 ballots were invalid. 12,623,289 voters were registered.

The electoral system

The Kurultai's 145 members were elected by closed-list proportional representation from a single nationwide constituency, with a 5% threshold for a party to win seats. That is a return to the fully proportional, nationwide system Kazakhstan used between 2007 and 2021, and a reversal of the mixed system introduced for the 2023 election, which had combined party lists with single-mandate districts. The ballot also carried an "against all" option, reintroduced in 2023; 230,446 voters — 2.51% — used it, more than twice the share won by the smallest party on the ballot.

How the new parliament came about

A constitutional referendum on 15 March 2026 approved an entirely new constitution by 89.86% on a turnout of 73.12%. It abolished Kazakhstan's bicameral Parliament — the elected Mäjilis and the partly appointed Senate — and replaced it with the single-chamber Kurultai of 145 deputies. The new constitution took effect on 1 July 2026, and President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed the decree setting the election for 23 August. This was the 10th legislative election since independence in 1991, and the first for the new chamber.

The parties

Kazakhstan's politics have been dominated since independence by a single pro-presidential party, known successively as Otan, Nur Otan and, from 2022, Amanat. In June 2026 the newly formed Ädilet merged with Amanat and became its successor ahead of the Kurultai election — part of Tokayev's effort to rebrand the ruling party and distance it from the era of founding president Nursultan Nazarbayev. Ädilet, led by Aibek Dädebai since May 2026, duly took just over seven votes in ten.

Behind it, the rural-focused Auyl (6.26%), the business-oriented Respublica (5.56%), Aq Jol (5.21%) and the Nationwide Social Democratic Party (5.11%) all cleared the threshold, each by a narrow margin. The People's Party of Kazakhstan, a successor to the communists, fell to 3.11% and won nothing — its first absence from the national legislature since it first entered the Mäjilis, as the Communist People's Party, in 2012. The green party Baytaq took 1.07%. Genuinely independent or opposition parties have long struggled to register in Kazakhstan, and international monitors have consistently judged its elections as falling short of democratic standards while noting incremental procedural improvements.

Regional patterns

Because the Kurultai is elected from a single nationwide list, there were no constituency contests — but the Central Election Commission published turnout and vote shares for all 20 regions, and they diverge sharply. Turnout ranged from 43.07% in the city of Almaty and 52.11% in the capital Astana to 92.02% in Türkistan Region, 91.05% in Jetisu and 90.62% in Qyzylorda: the familiar Kazakh pattern of very high reported participation in the rural south and much lower engagement in the two big cities.

Ädilet led in all 20 regions, but by very different margins — 80.82% in Türkistan Region, 79.62% in Shymkent and 78.25% in Jetisu, against 57.23% in the city of Almaty, 64.39% in Qarağandy and 64.52% in West Kazakhstan. The vote for everyone else concentrated in Almaty, where Respublica took 11.93% (its best result anywhere, against 5.56% nationally) and the "against all" option reached 4.72%. Auyl polled best in the rural interior, peaking at 8.94% in Ulytau, and the QHP's strongest showing was 5.79% in West Kazakhstan.

What it means

The first Kurultai gives the presidency a legislature in which one party holds three-quarters of the seats and the four other parliamentary parties sit within roughly a point of the threshold that admitted them. The government presents the reform as streamlining the state; critics note that abolishing the upper house removes a check, and that a single nationwide list, in a system where the ruling party faces no organised opposition, concentrates rather than disperses power. Oljas Bektenov remained prime minister. The practical test now is whether the new chamber, the restored vice-presidency and the presidentially appointed People's Council deliver the responsiveness the "New Kazakhstan" programme promised after the deadly unrest of January 2022.

Official source

Central Election Commission of the Republic of Kazakhstan (election.gov.kz), final results certified on 25 August 2026.

Қазақша / По-русски: 2026 жылғы Құрылтай сайлауының нәтижелері — партиялар бойынша дауыс саны, мандаттар және аймақтық көрсеткіштер (результаты выборов в Курултай 2026 — голоса, мандаты и данные по регионам).

Frequently asked questions

When was Kazakhstan's 2026 parliamentary election?

Voting took place on Sunday 23 August 2026. It was the first election to the new unicameral Kurultai, which replaced the bicameral Parliament under the constitution approved in the March 2026 referendum. The Central Election Commission announced preliminary results on 24 August and certified the final count on 25 August.

Who won the 2026 Kurultai election?

Ädilet, the pro-presidential party, won 71.17% of the vote and 110 of the 145 seats. Auyl took 10 seats on 6.26%, Respublica 9 on 5.56%, and Aq Jol and the JSDP 8 each on 5.21% and 5.11%.

What was the turnout?

74.08% — 9.35 million of 12,623,289 registered voters, and 19.87 percentage points higher than the 2023 Mäjilis election. Turnout ranged from 43.07% in the city of Almaty to 92.02% in Türkistan Region.

Which parties failed to win seats?

The People's Party of Kazakhstan (QHP) took 3.11% and the green party Baytaq 1.07%, both below the 5% threshold. It is the first time since 2012 that the QHP has had no seats in the national legislature. A further 2.51% of voters chose the "against all" option on the ballot.

What is the Kurultai?

The Kurultai is Kazakhstan's single-chamber legislature of 145 deputies, created by the 2026 constitutional reform that abolished the Senate. It replaces the previous two-house Parliament (the Mäjilis and the Senate), and its members are elected by closed-list proportional representation from one nationwide constituency with a 5% threshold.

Compiled and reviewed from official results by ElectioMap. See our data methodology.