The Lithuanian Seimas hosted a roundtable on the upcoming parliamentary election in Kazakhstan, with the participation of Deputy Speakers Julius Sabatauskas and Jonas Jarutis, representatives of various factions and committees of the Lithuanian Parliament, El.kz cites MFA.
The Ambassador of Kazakhstan Timur Urazayev spoke in detail about the practical implementation of the constitutional reform, the ongoing political and economic transformations in our country, the measures taken to ensure free and transparent elections of deputies of the Mazhilis of the Parliament and maslikhats.
Deputy Speakers Sabatauskas praised both the innovations introduced in the electoral system and the constitutional changes as a whole, which allow the democratic potential of the state and society to unfold more fully. This makes it possible to strengthen political competition and create institutional mechanisms for dialogue in the decision-making process. He especially emphasized the restoration of the right of Kazakhstani voters to vote “against all”.
The discussion of the new norm of distribution of mandates by party lists, including the established 30% quota for women, youth and people with special needs, caused a lively discussion among the participants of the event.
The Chairman of the interparliamentary friendship group “Kazakhstan-Lithuania” Edmuntas Pupinis expressed interest in working together and exchanging experience with the deputies of the Mazhilis of the Parliament of the new convocation after the elections. Mutual support of Kazakh and Lithuanian elected officials both in a bilateral format and on international platforms will contribute to the rapprochement of the peoples of the two countries.
During the event, issues of further development of trade, economic and investment cooperation between the two countries, expansion of cooperation in the transport and logistics sphere, primarily related to the transit potential of Lithuania in trade relations between East and West, were also discussed.
Separately, they focused on the issues of increasing the mutual tourist flow, facilitating the visa regime for citizens of Kazakhstan to Lithuania and the countries of the Schengen Agreement, as well as strengthening cultural and humanitarian ties.
The deputies of the Seimas expressed gratitude to the people of Kazakhstan for preserving historical memory and opening a monument to Lithuanian political prisoners in the Spassky Memorial Complex in Karagandy. The Kazakh Ambassador, for his part, thanked Lithuanian partners for their careful attitude toward the war graves of Kazakh soldiers who died in that country during the World War II.