Municipal elections were held in Kazakhstan where 730 äkıms (local heads) whose four-year terms expired were reelected for the first time directly by the population on 25 July 2021 following an introduction of new law by the Parliament, which allowed for direct elections for äkıms of cities with district importance, villages, and the townships of rural districts. From there, the ruling Nur Otan party won majority of 627 municipal races with most of its candidates being incumbents who occupied the äkım positions prior, followed by the Auyl People's Democratic Patriotic Party (33 äkıms), Adal (15 äkıms), Ak Zhol Democratic Party (11 äkıms), People's Party of Kazakhstan (10 äkıms), and the Nationwide Social Democratic Party where it secured local race victory in West Kazakhstan Region.

By-elections of äkıms in remaining vacant districts continued taking place later in the second half of the year from 1 August until 12 December 2021.

Background The concept of direct elections for the rural äkıms (local heads) in Kazakhstan traces as far back to 1999–when for the first time the äkım of the Karasay District in Almaty Region was directly elected in former president Nursultan Nazarbayev's birthplace, Chemolgan, by village residents on an experimental basis. A few years later in October 2001, direct elections for äkıms were held in 28 different rural villages. Such electoral experiments continued to take place until 2013, when a law "On amending and amending some legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the development of local government" was adopted, which allowed for the mäslihats (local assemblies) to indirectly vote for village and township äkıms, as well as those in cities of district importance, for a four-year term, who would be proposed by the district äkım himself.

In 2018, the idea of directly electing äkıms rearose after Justice Minister Marat Beketaev presented one of the proposed bills to the Mazhilis in amending the Constitution, which would allow for political parties to nominate candidates for the rural äkım post, who would, in turn, be elected by the residents. However, the Senate on 14 June 2018 rejected the Mazhilis' proposal for the direct-elections of äkıms, thus putting the bill aside.

On 1 September 2020, during the address to the nation, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev announced the elections of rural municipal äkıms would take place in 2021 and on 14 September, he signed a presidential decree on measures which called for the rural äkıms to be directly elected by the population. On 19 October 2020, the Ministry of National Economy drafted bill on the direct-elections of villages, towns and rural districts äkıms. In April 2021, the proposed bills were presented to the Mazhilis which would allow for political and self-nominated candidates to run in the rural äkım elections. The Mazhilis on 5 May 2021 approved the law to which has received remarks amongst the MP's such as Aidos Sarym, who called it "a very important historical step." On 20 May, the Senate voted in favour of the bill with Tokayev signing it into law on 25 May, with a choice of "Against all" in the electoral ballots were set to be included as well.

Tokayev's assistant for political affairs Erlan Karin on 25 June 2021 announced in his social media that the rural äkım elections would be held on 25 July, calling it a "very serious event, which marks a completely new stage of political modernisation."

Electoral system Villages, towns, rural districts and cities of district importance äkıms (local heads) are directly elected by the residents for a four-year term. An äkım must be a Kazakhstani citizen of at least 25 years of age with a higher education degree and an experience in the civil service for at least one year and at least two years in the leadership positions of non-government organisations (NGOs).

Procedure At the meeting of the Council on Interaction with the Mäslihats in the Senate, National Economy Minister Aset Irgaliev stated that the rural äkım elections would be financed by the local budget and that 836 rural äkıms would be up for contested seat.

Elections are announced 40 days in advance and conducted 10 days before the expiration of the term of office of the incumbent äkım with the electoral campaign being held for 30 days.

Parties Following the announcement of the election date, nominations of candidates began on 26 June 2021 and ended on 9 July 2021. Candidates for äkım posts of cities of district significance, villages, towns, and rural districts are either nominated by themselves (with a collection of signatures in support of a candidate in the amount of at least 1% of voters living in the corresponding city or rural district), political parties from its members, or the district äkım (if only two candidates by the end of the nomination period).

As of 7 July 2021, a total of 2322 candidates were nominated, with most being self-nominees (independents), to which amounted to 1455 people, and 867 were nominated from political parties as follows: PartyIdeologyLeaderNo. of candidatesNONur OtanBig tentNursultan NazarbayevAUYLAuyl People's Democratic Patriotic PartyAgrarianismÄli BektaevQHPPeople's Party of KazakhstanSocialismAiqyn QongyrovADALAdalSocial capitalismSerik SultangaliAJAk Zhol Democratic PartyLiberalismAzat Peruashev

Nur Otan According to the party's first deputy chairman Bauyrjan Baibek, more than 35% of the candidates from the Nur Otan are new faces, including representatives of education, entrepreneurs, farmers, and from recent closed primaries, chairmen of primary party organizations. The average age of the candidates is 46 years. 11% of applicants are women, 14% are representatives of young people under 35 years old and that the main task for the party would be in creating systemic conditions for the development of villages and solving problems. He also expressed that the Nur Otan would aim at winning 80% of all local races.

The Nur Otan had a significant administrative and financial resources with nominating the most candidates on basis of political affiliation in the election. However, because of almost all incumbent rural äkıms being the members of the party, the Nur Otan positioned itself in a more difficult position of facing self-nominated candidates as well as facing problems within villages which occurred under the Nur Otan-affiliated äkıms.

Auyl On 22 June 2021, the 19th Auyl Extraordinary Congress was held in Nur-Sultan where the party announced that it would participate in the elections with Chairman Äli Bektaev proclaiming it as a "unique and historic event" stressing that the party "should not stay away from the political life of the country." Head of the Auyl Branch in Aqtobe Region Orazbek Dalmagambetov expressed the need for the party to compete in rural äkım races, claiming that the Auyl candidates have "sufficient competence and respect among the villagers." The party at the congress expressed its confidence that the elections would encourage further increased participation of local communities in the management of the settlement, as well as the responsibility and openness of mayors to the population that elects it.

In spite of the Auyl's advantage in attracting support due to its name and political platforms that generally favour rural interests, the party was seen to not have noticeable activity compared to others and that its best chance would be in making a campaign breakthrough in last stages of the election.

Aq Jol The Aq Jol Democratic Party (AJ) announced its intent to participate in the rural äkım elections at the party's 17th Extraordinary Congress.

People's Party People's Party of Kazakhstan (QHP) chairman Aiqyn Qongyrov on 4 June 2021 at the 18th Extraordinary Congress announced that the QHP will contest its nominees for the rural äkım posts, hoping that the candidates would pass the "strictest–an electoral exam for their professional and human qualities," claiming that it would "improve the quality of governance and become a fairly effective anti-corruption measure." On 28 June, at the party's press conference, Qongyrov criticised the government for its failure in conducting the elections, stressing the issues in no explanatory work being carried out with the population, difficult access to information, short amount of campaign time. He also opposed the incumbent äkıms running for reelection, citing that the reelection contestants with their administrative resource would take the advantage in committing political sabotages and possibly get rid of the direct elections. In spite Qongyrov's backlash, he stated that the QHP would put forward its candidates and that it would actively support self-nominees as well.

The QHP's condition was described to "shaky" following the party's rebranding in November 2020 which has believed to caused a split within the QHP faction as well as a possible loss of some of its support base. However, confidence towards the party remained as it had performed usually better in the 2021 legislative elections and that it could still garner support well from the electorate living in the rural areas as many were described to feeling nostalgic towards the Soviet Union.

Adal At the 8th Adal Extraordinary Congress held on 2 June 2021, party chairman Serik Sultangali expressed interest in nominating candidates for rural äkıms. According to Adal secretary Nurlybek Muqanov, more than 270 candidates were selected to be trained in the activities and functionality of äkıms. Sultangali called for increased work with the rural residents and agricultural agents, noting that the further development of the village and its residents depends on the party delegates.

On 3 July 2021, the party announced that 267 candidates were nominated for the rural äkım posts in the aftermath of regional conferences where each candidates' programmes were discussed where were in identifying infrastructure problems and ways to solve them, create additional jobs, start blue business projects, and increase in local budget as well as social blocks.

Nationwide Social Democratic Party Due to the Nationwide Social Democratic Party (JSDP) previously boycotting the January 2021 general elections, some doubts were raised in whether JSDP would field its candidates for the rural äkım posts or refuse to contest the race once more. Not ruling out the party's participation, JSDP chairman Ashat Raqymjanov at the meeting of Republican Public Council for the Development of Civil Society and Public Administration held under Nur Otan proposed to conduct an online livestream on election day in order to ensure transparency, openness and legitimacy of the electoral conduct. The JSDP was viewed to be an inactive party, with its activists reportedly joining other political movements.

Candidates by region RegionNo. of local racesNur OtanAuylQHPAq JolAdalJSDPIndependentsTotal:Almaty 71 51 6 9 — 11 2 156 235Aqmola 95 76 2 7 5 2 1 210 303Aqtöbe 35 28 16 5 9 5 2 42 107Atyrau 31 15 5 3 2 2 1 32 60East Kazakhstan 77 61 18 1 1 3 1 150 235Jambyl 38 31 16 9 16 2 — 42 116Karaganda 75 59 3 14 3 3 — 186 268Kostanay 59 52 2 — 3 2 — 88 147Kyzylorda 40 32 7 4 3 2 — 82 130Mangystau 10 8 — 3 2 3 1 22 39North Kazakhstan 71 57 3 4 2 2 — 150 218Pavlodar 44 35 2 5 5 3 2 90 142Turkistan 60 48 19 3 6 5 3 130 214West Kazakhstan 31 25 5 3 1 5 1 53 93Total: 743 578 104 70 58 50 14 1,433 2,307

Campaign

Nur Otan