Over 2 Million Kazakhs Vote in Constitutional Referendum by 10 AM

By 10:00 AM local time on the day of the nationwide constitutional referendum, more than 2.3 million Kazakh citizens had already cast their votes. The Central Referendum Commission released preliminary turnout figures, showing a national participation rate of 19.21% at that hour.

The data, presented by commission member Lyazzat Suindik, revealed varying turnout levels across the country's regions. The Karaganda region led with the highest reported turnout of 26.64%, followed by the Kyzylorda region at 24.02%. The cities of Astana and Shymkent showed strong participation at 20.68% and 21.36%, respectively, while Almaty city reported a lower figure of 9.54%.

In total, 2,393,844 people had received ballots by the mid-morning mark. For the referendum to be considered valid, more than half of the eligible electorate must participate. With approximately 12.4 million registered voters as of January 1, this means at least over 6.2 million citizens need to vote.

The referendum, held on March 15 from 7:00 AM to 8:00 PM, poses a single question to voters: "Do you accept the new Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the draft of which was published in the mass media on February 12, 2026?"