A Kazakh court has prolonged a ban on the Communist Party for another six month, its leader Gaziz Aldamzharov has said.
“The party’s operation will be virtually frozen, put into sleep mode, until late October,” Aldamzharov said, adding the decision was made on Monday.
An Almaty administrative court suspended the Kazakh Communist Party’s activities in October last year over Aldamzharov’s participation in the unregistered opposition People’s Front movement.
The ruling barred the party from participating in early parliamentary elections in January, in which President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s Nur Otan party won 81 percent of the vote.
The party’s suspension period was due to expire this month. In early April, two party officials were fined over “agitation” for the party.
The Kazakh Communist Party has more than 54,000 members, according to the country’s Central Election Commission.
The party boycotted the previous parliamentary polls in 2007, in which the ruling President Nazarbayev’s party was the only one to qualify for seats in the Majilis. In the 2004 elections, the Communist Party failed to make it into parliament.
