The first of November in Kazakhstan split into three kinds of deadlines. Some became binding that same evening, others remain a wish for months ahead, and about the third kind we were told little: it is known that they will come, but not what stands behind them.
1 November
- 3,447
deputies to be elected on 29 November in 228 maslikhats - 28 November
day of silence, campaigning runs until 00:00 of that day - 1 July 2027
the day the QazETA permit becomes mandatory - 8 t
the axle-load limit for trucks in central Almaty - 223,000
barrels a day by which Kazakhstan’s September output exceeded its mandatory OPEC+ level - 5–7 November
days of traffic restrictions in Astana
Based on the review
- 3,447
The mandatory: 18:00, and no way back
At 18:00 on 1 November the deadline expired for registering party lists and candidates in the early elections of maslikhat deputies. From that minute until 00:00 on 28 November the campaign runs, 28 November is the day of silence, and voting is set for 29 November, the Central Election Commission ruled. Voters will elect 3,447 deputies in 228 maslikhats: 20 regional, 38 city and 170 district ones. The elections are early because on 12 October the President terminated the powers of maslikhats at all levels by decree, and he gave the reason back on 24 September: most deputies were elected from the Amanat party, which no longer operates independently because it merged into Adilet. In such a campaign the deadlines set the frame: registration until 18:00, campaigning after it, and no spare days between campaigning and the vote.
The second mandatory deadline concerns oil, and here the word “mandatory” needs explaining. On 1 November seven OPEC+ countries, Kazakhstan among them, decided to keep September’s mandatory production level for December; for Kazakhstan it is 1.628 million barrels a day. Actual output is higher: according to OPEC’s monthly report, in September the country produced 1.851 million barrels a day without gas condensate, about 223,000 more. The mandatory level and actual output sit on neighbouring lines of the report and differ by 223,000 barrels a day. The December statement has no data for October and no schedule for compensation.
The third firm deadline was tested the same day in Almaty. The axle-load limit of eight tonnes for trucks has been in force there since 25 July: daily from 07:00 to 22:00 in the square formed by Saina, Al-Farabi, the Eastern Bypass and Ryskulov streets. Two months in, the police reported thousands of fined drivers and clarified that the ban covers dump trucks such as KrAZ, MAZ, KamAZ, Howo and Shacman, but not Gazelles. A 41-year-old Almaty resident recorded a video address calling on heavy-truck drivers to stop their vehicles in an organised way on 1 November. The court gave him 15 days of administrative arrest for calling for an unsanctioned mass event, the city police department said. He called the limit unacceptable: in his words, Almaty is growing, construction is under way, and heavy vehicles carry building materials. According to the police, the case concerned the call for an unsanctioned action, not the load limit itself.
The recommended: eight months to think it over
From 1 November Kazakhstan began introducing the QazETA electronic entry permit for citizens of 85 countries that do not need a visa. It started at Aktau airport and four road checkpoints: Urlyutobe in Pavlodar Region, Aukhatty in Zhambyl, Atameken in Turkistan and Nurly Zhol in Zhetisu. At the airports of Astana and Almaty the permit will apply from 1 January 2027, and at the remaining checkpoints from 1 March 2027, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. Until 30 June 2027 applying remains voluntary: the lack of a permit is not in itself grounds for refusing entry. It becomes mandatory on 1 July 2027. The permit can already be obtained, but entry cannot yet be refused without it.
Applications are filed on the qazeta.kz platform no later than 72 hours before entry; the service is free, the permit is valid for 180 days, and 29 categories are exempt, including children under 16, people over 65, residence-permit holders and transit passengers. Moscow wanted clarifications: Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova was waiting for them from Astana, and on 21 October Kazakhstan’s Foreign Ministry said it had passed detailed information about QazETA to 85 states, including Russia.
What was reported without details
The State Security Service warned that on 5–7 November traffic will be temporarily restricted on some Astana streets because of the preparation and holding of “a number of international political events”, and that since 1 November training flights of military aircraft have been taking place over the city. The statement names neither the events nor their participants, neither the streets nor the hours of closure, neither the altitude nor the routes of the flights. The Defence Ministry had not commented on these flights when our news item came out.
The storm warning of Kazhydromet for 2 November is built the same way: fog, frosts down to −8°C and ice, and in the Ulytau and Kyzylorda regions, Atyrau Region, the east of Zhetisu Region and the centre of Mangystau Region, extreme fire danger. The text of the warning has no list of measures: it does not say what residents should do.
Leaving something unsaid can also be more peaceful. Former culture minister Dusen Kaseinov received the Alisher Navoi International Prize of the OTS in Ankara: the ceremony took place on 29 October, and Kazinform reported it on the evening of 1 November, three days later.
What next
The deadlines for the coming weeks are known. The Astana restrictions last 5–7 November, campaigning runs until 00:00 on 28 November, voting is on 29 November, and QazETA becomes mandatory on 1 July 2027. Questions remain for the agencies. The State Security Service should be asked which events will take place in the capital, and Kazhydromet and local authorities which measures apply where fire danger is declared extreme. As for oil, the December OPEC+ statement does not say how Kazakhstan will compensate for exceeding its production level.
