Three Kazakh political parties get registered

Eight more submit applications

WASHINGTON, January 23 - Three political parties, the recently created Ak Zhol democratic party, and the two parties with the largest numbers of seats in the Parliament, Civil and Otan, were re-registered by January 20 after submitting their application based on a 50,000-membership threshold. Such requirement was introduced by the Law on Political Parties adopted in the summer of 2002.

The Ministry of Justice, conducting the registration, said applications from eight more political parties were received and were being reviewed. Those parties include Agrarian, Alash, Auyl (Village), Renaissance, Compratriot, the Party of Patriots, the Communist Party and El Dana, formerly Women's Democratic Party. The Ministry said final results of the registration processes would be announced at a later date after the review of additional applications, including those mailed by post.

The Republican People's Party of Kazakhstan, one of the smallest opposition parties, financed and led by Interpol-sought Akezhan Kazhegeldin, failed to get enough members to get registered. Instead, it opted for re-registration as a political club, its membership widely believed not to exceed few dozens of activists in Almaty and Astana.

Currently, there are four party caucuses in the national Parliament of Kazakhstan, including the Agrarian party with 11 members, Civil Party (27), Auyl Democratic Party (12) and Otan (44).