Five legal entities have notified the Central Election Commission of Kazakhstan of their intention to conduct public opinion polls related to the Kurultai elections. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Sputnik Kazakhstan.
Elections to the new unicameral parliament will be held on August 23. Those who notified about conducting public opinion polls include:
- 01**Institute of Eurasian Integration** – will conduct exit polls (surveys of voters leaving polling stations), group discussions, expert surveys, mass surveys, and express surveys;
- 02**DATAmetrics** – face-to-face interviews;
- 03**Institute of Public Policy** – face-to-face interviews, telephone surveys, online surveys, and exit polls;
- 04**"SOTSIS-A"** – exit polls (using "individual survey" and "continuous flow" methods) and measurement of public preferences (face-to-face, via social networks, and by mail);
- 05**"Kazakhstan Institute of Public Development"** – face-to-face surveys, telephone surveys.
The Central Election Commission (CEC) reminded that only legal entities with at least five years of experience can conduct polls, and only after notifying the CEC and providing information about the specialists involved, methodologies used, and regions covered.
When publishing results, media are obliged to disclose the organization that conducted the poll, the client, the dates of the poll, the methodology, the exact wording of the question, the sample size, and information about the margin of error.
Publication is prohibited during the five days before voting and on election day itself. "On election day, it is prohibited to conduct public opinion polls at the polling station or at the voting place. Violation of the rules for conducting public opinion polls related to elections entails administrative liability," the CEC warned.