Kazakhstan Constitutional Referendum: Over 8 Million Votes Cast by 4 PM

More than eight million Kazakh citizens had cast their ballots in the national constitutional referendum by 4:00 PM local time on Sunday, according to preliminary data from the Central Referendum Commission.

The commission reported that a total of 8,029,286 people had voted by that hour, representing 64.43 percent of eligible voters nationwide.

Regional turnout figures varied significantly across the country. The Kyzylorda region led with the highest participation rate at 82.02 percent. Other regions with high turnout included East Kazakhstan (78.98%), Aktobe (77.65%), and Turkistan (72.39%).

In contrast, major cities showed lower participation rates. Almaty recorded just 28.16 percent turnout, while the capital city of Astana saw 47.76 percent of eligible voters cast their ballots by the afternoon count.

The referendum had already been declared valid earlier in the day when voter participation surpassed the required threshold of over 50 percent by 2:00 PM, with more than 6.4 million votes recorded at that time.

Polling stations opened at 7:00 AM and were scheduled to close at 8:00 PM local time on March 15th. All Kazakh citizens aged 18 and older were eligible to participate in the vote.

The ballot contained a single question asking voters whether they accept the new Constitution of Kazakhstan, whose draft was published in mass media on February 12th, 2026. Voters could choose between "Yes, I agree" or "No, I disagree" options, with no separate voting on individual chapters or articles.

The proposed constitutional amendments represent changes to approximately 84 percent of the text of the country's fundamental law.

According to regulations, each citizen must vote in person unless prevented by health conditions from visiting a polling station—in such cases, home voting is permitted.

The final results of the referendum are expected to be announced no later than March 21st, 2026.