4. Is there a ban on corporate donations to candidates?

Article 34.

1. Pre-election campaigns of candidates at elections of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan and elections of deputies of Parliament and Maslikhats can be funded from the election funds formed in compliance with the procedure established by this Constitutional Law.
2. The election funds shall be subject to the state registration in the order established by the legislation.
3. The election funds shall be formed from the following sources:
      1) personal means of candidates, funds of political parties;
      2) means allocated to the candidate by the republican public association that has nominated the candidate;
      3) voluntary donations of citizens and organizations of the Republic. The voluntary donations of the state bodies and organizations, local self-government bodies, charitable organizations, religious associations, legal entities of Kazakhstan having foreign stock in their charter capital as well as anonymous donations of physical persons and legal entities shall be forbidden.

 (Constitutional Act of the Republic of Kazakhstan, On Elections in the Republic of Kazakhstan, 1995 available at https://www.election.gov.kz/rus/normativno-pravovaya-baza-vyborov/zakon-respubliki-kazakhstan/zakon-o-vyborakh-v-respublike-kazakhstan.php  accessed January 2018).

IX. CAMPAIGN FINANCE

The Election Law guarantees equal public campaign funds for each candidate. Private financing is also permitted including from the candidate’s own funds, donations made by citizens and legal entities, and funds allocated by the candidate’s nominating body. As self-nominated candidates are not entitled to the latter source of funding, the maximum amount of financing a candidate can receive, and subsequently spend, differs for party and self-nominated candidates.This challenges paragraph 7.5 of 1990 OSCE Copenhagen Document, which provides equal rights for independent and party candidates. Other sources, including anonymous and foreign donations are prohibited. Consideration should be given to adjust campaign finance rules so that all candidates are subject to the same contribution limits as a means to level the playing field between independent candidates and those nominated by parties or other public associations.

(OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission Final Report, Republic of Kazakhstan, Early Presidential Election, 26 April 2015, available at http://www.osce.org/odihr/elections/kazakhstan/174811?download=true accessed January 2018).