GAZETA.KZ 12 January 2012 OSCE Parliamentary Assembly is sending observers to Zhanaozen town of Mangystau region to monitor the early parliamentary elections in Kazakhstan on January 15. Joao Soares, head of OSCE PA Mission, announced this after his meeting with Kazakh Foreign Minister Yerzhan Kazykhanov on Thursday. Mr. Soares expressed hope for the full observance of human rights and freedoms in the Majilis elections, as stated during the

EURASIANET 12 January 2012 Voters in Kazakhstan will head to the polls on January 15 in a parliamentary election that is sure to be the tensest in the country's two decades of independence. The governing Nur Otan party, headed by President Nursultan Nazarbayev, is currently the only party represented in parliament, and seems certain to win an overwhelming majority of seats in the coming election. However, this vote follows a troubled 2011, when

COPENHAGEN, 11 January 2012 – The OSCE Chair-in-Office, Irish Foreign Minister Eamon Gilmore, on Monday appointed OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Emeritus Joao Soares Special Co-ordinator to lead the OSCE election observation mission to the 15 January early parliamentary elections in Kazakhstan. "I look forward to seeing how Kazakhstan's electoral process functions since legal changes were enacted after the 2007 parliamentary elections,"