Fatherland (Kazakhstan)

Fatherland
"Otan"
Отан
Leader Nursultan Nazarbayev
Founded February 12, 1999
Merger of People's Union of Kazakhstan Unity, Liberal Movement of Kazakhstan and For Kazakhstan - 2030
Succeeded by Nur Otan
Headquarters Astana
Ideology Big tent
Authoritarianism[1]
Politics of Kazakhstan
Political parties
Elections
A poster of the Otan Party in Türkistan, Kazakhstan.
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Fatherland (Kazakh: Отан. Otan; from Perso-Arabic: وطن / waṭan) was the largest political party in Kazakhstan, led by Bakhytzhan Zhumagulov with over 700,000 members[2] until December 22. At a subsequent party congress, delegates agreed to incorporate the Civic Party and the Agrarian Party and rename the party to Nur-Otan.

Otan was originally established on February 12, 1999 after the merger of several previously independent pro-presidential parties, including the People's Union of Kazakhstan Unity, the Liberal Movement of Kazakhstan, and the "For Kazakhstan - 2030" Movement. At the uniting congress, the new party outlined a program largely supportive of the government led by President Nursultan Nazarbayev.[3]

During its last legislative elections under the Otan banner (19 September and 3 October 2004), the party won 60.6% of the popular vote and 42 out of 77 seats.

In the run-up to previous elections, Otan usually received a majority of domestic media coverage. Before the 1999 election, for example, it was reported that Otan was the main focus in almost 60% of the coverage.[4] Additionally, most of the country's major media outlets had political leanings towards Otan (including those networks such as Khabar, which were formally supportive of Asar).

Election results

President

Election year Candidate # of overall votes % of overall vote Result
2005 Nursultan Nazarbayev 6,147,517 91.15% Elected

Mazhilis

Election Seats won ± Total votes Share of votes Position Party leader
1999
23 / 77
Increase23 1,622,895 30.90% Minority gov't Kassym-Jomart Tokayev
2004
42 / 77
Decrease19 5,621,436 60.60% Majority gov't Daniyal Akhmetov

References

External links