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ASTANA, KAZAKHSTAN - MARCH 19: Kazakh voters are going to the polls on Sunday, March 19, to elect lawmakers and local officials after a presidential election and constitutional referendum last year. Members of local legislatures in 17 provinces and three municipalities, Astana, Almaty and Shymkent, are on the ballot, as well as candidates for five-year terms in the lower house of the national-level parliament, the Majilis. Being the eighth legislative and local elections since the country's independence from the Soviet Union, the elections are held in mixed-member majoritarian representation system, applied following amendments made to the Kazakh constitution with the latest constitutional referendum held in June 2022. A new system of proportional representation in legislative elections was introduced after the 2004 polls in the Central Asian country, aiming to bring new figures into the country's politics as independent candidates and members of different political parties. (Footage by Meiramgul Kussainova /Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)