KAZAKHSTAN: REFLECTIONS AFTER THE ELECTIONS

The elections in Kazakhstan have concluded and outside even the weather has warmed a little and the sun has melted some of the frozen pavements. The warmth is a slight respite before the real winter, but people are making the most of it. Wrapped and cocooned in layers, smiles and bright eyes peek from coat hoods. The frozen breath of laughter can be heard from children sledding on the hard packed snow in the playgrounds between the apartment blocks.

The televisual excitement of the previous few days has melted away too and life is back to normal. There is background chatter on social media from the usual active people with a mixture of ill-informed analysis and gossip. Misinformation abounds with the lists of candidates and the percentages of their votes appearing alongside memes and video clips of the people casting their votes. Some people openly show who they voted for, others show their children being lifted to be able to post the paper into the ballot box. All who voted seem keen to prove they voted and broadcast it. According to official figures 69% turned up to vote across the country.

Of the fifteen regions in this vast country, the highest voter turnout is in the Zhetisu Region, 81%, while the lowest is in the city of Almaty, with just 29% percent. Almaty, a former capital and major business and financial centre, had low turnout at the 2019 presidential election as well.

In Astana, the country’s capital and centre for the Akmola region, where the majority of the world’s press have been based, the turnout is reported to be 79%. Many people, however, when asked said they had not voted. One of those who said they did vote, an older woman who was out carrying her grandchild, said she had voted because ‘it is important for this generation!” waving the cradled child like a doll. Other young people asked “What’s the point ?” but would not reveal what they really meant. A group of young women keen to practise their English were happy to talk - two of them had voted but the other two had not. Aigerim, one of the women who had voted, said “It’s not just a right but a responsibility to make sure your voice is heard”. When one of her friends asked who she had voted for she was less forthcoming. But they all agreed that it had been good to see female candidates and they believed that at the next election a woman would win! “We need stability at this time,’’ said Gaughar, the other of the women who had voted.

This attitude about ‘the next time’ became a common theme in conversation. One of the candidates posted that she was pleased to have been part of the process and that, although she had not won, she was being encouraged to continue in politics and stand again - apparently by senior figures in the current administration. But that opportunity will be seven years away and the world may be a very different place by then. It is back to normal, but the challenges that lie ahead in this region need to be met by the new administration.

You might be wondering who won this election. The current president with 81% of the vote.

“It is right he is back in Akorda (the presidential palace) so that he can solve the current problems and lead us forward for the next few years,” Gaughar added as they shuffled off chatting and filling the frozen air with their voices.

There is a real sense of optimism that Kazakhstan has a bright future, in many people’s eyes an important future on the world stage too and, although the expected change voiced by many before the election did not materialise, maybe Gauhar is right stability is what is needed now. We will see what happens ‘next time’!

by Gareth Stamp Chairman of the Eurasian Creative Guild (London)

FROM THE FRONT LINE: THE UKRAINE CONFLICT INTERVIEW WITH DANIEL SPECKHARD, CEO CORUS GROUP

The Former Soviet Union has occupied Ambassador Daniel Speckhard’s professional career (and personal interest) since the 1990s. He initially served as director of policy and resources for the Deputy Secretary of State, overseeing and co-ordinating foreign aid funding. Following the breakup of the Soviet Union he was Deputy to the Ambassador-at-Large for the new independent states including Russia and Ukraine, and responsible for a range of political and economic issues. Becoming Ambassador to Belarus from 1997 gave him direct insight into the aftermath of independence, after which he was appointed in 2000 as NATO’s deputy assistant general for political affairs, covering not only the Soviet Union but also Eastern Europe (including Ukraine) and the Balkans. He is currently the CEO of Corus International, which was launched in 2020 as a parent organisation of several NGOs addressing global health and development issues. Following a recent visit to Ukraine, Open Central Asia ’s Editor-in-Chief, Nick Rowan, finds out more.

The horrific headlines emerging from Ukraine never seem to abate. As I dial into my call with Ambassador Speckhard, news has filtered through of further Russian attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure, destroying perhaps as much as 50% of the electrical power infrastructure. This threatens to plunge millions of weary Ukrainians into chilling darkness as winter approaches. If ever there was a time to pray for a warm winter, it is now.

I ask Ambassador Speckhard what his assessment of life on the ground is like, having returned recently from a trip to Ukraine’s front lines. “It’s hard for people to understand,” he starts cautiously. “They see the war pictures. All the rocket attacks and the destruction. It’s easy to feel empathy, but I don’t think people really understand the scale. There’s roughly 15 million people needing humanitarian assistance. According to the UN, 7 million people have left the country and 7 million are displaced inside. Many people forget the demographics. The reality is Ukraine is a very ageing population. When I got to Kharkiv, about 40 miles from the front, the shelters were filled with people in their 70s and 80s. Many don’t have families to go to. Many have chronic illnesses, in need of medicines.”

It is not just the physical illnesses. Speckhard continues, “The other thing I noticed is the psychological trauma. You assume that it’s there, but you don’t realise how significant it is. Many of the [elderly residents] moved to basements and stayed there for weeks, sometimes months, as they rode out the war. You can’t talk to these displaced people without them quickly falling into tears.”

Russia’s continued bombardment of crucial infrastructure such as power stations and lines, leaves a humanitarian crisis unfolding before our eyes. Many will feel overwhelmed and powerless to help, but Speckhard’s current venture, the Corus Group, aims to help ameliorate conditions for as many people as possible by giving them a place that is warm, as safe as possible and with access to proper healthcare.

“We’re creating a new NGO that we hope will be a model for the future,” he enthuses. “It is based on how you bring together specialised agencies and groups to create a technically sophisticated NGO that can take a more holistic approach to development, poverty, health and humanitarian challenges. We are trying to build capacity and knowhow with a holistic response, because what we find is that foreign aid is very stove piped. For example, money marked for health-related activities is only for health, rural development only for rural projects, environment for environment, and so on. But actually, if you go to a village, these people don’t just have one issue. If you fix the health problem but nobody has jobs, the people are still going to suffer.”

It’s a very valid point and one worth considering deeply as the world looks to rebuild Ukraine once hostilities have ended. Speckhard continues,“We’ve now got roughly five different groups working together on health, livelihoods, and humanitarian assistance. We then impact invest in companies with a direct trade group that brings products straight