Leader Nursultan Nazarbayev Succeeded by Nur Otan | Founded February 12, 1999 Headquarters Astana | |
 | ||
Merger of People's Union of Kazakhstan Unity, Liberal Movement of Kazakhstan and For Kazakhstan - 2030 Ideology Big tent
Authoritarianism | ||
Fatherland (Kazakh: Отан. Otan; from Perso-Arabic: وطن / waṭan) was the largest political party in Kazakhstan, led by Bakhytzhan Zhumagulov with over 700,000 members until December 22. At a subsequent party congress, delegates agreed to incorporate the Civic Party and the Agrarian Party and rename the party to Nur-Otan.
Otan was originally established on February 12, 1999 after the merger of several previously independent pro-presidential parties, including the People's Union of Kazakhstan Unity, the Liberal Movement of Kazakhstan, and the "For Kazakhstan - 2030" Movement. At the uniting congress, the new party outlined a program largely supportive of the government led by President Nursultan Nazarbayev.
During its last legislative elections under the Otan banner (19 September and 3 October 2004), the party won 60.6% of the popular vote and 42 out of 77 seats.
In the run-up to previous elections, Otan usually received a majority of domestic media coverage. Before the 1999 election, for example, it was reported that Otan was the main focus in almost 60% of the coverage. Additionally, most of the country's major media outlets had political leanings towards Otan (including those networks such as Khabar, which were formally supportive of Asar).