Arman Şoraev

Arman Tölegenūly Şoraev (; ; born 7 May 1970) is a Kazakh politician and media personality.

Early life and education Şoraev was born on 7 May 1970, in the Volodarskoye District of Kokshetau Oblast (now Aiyrtau District, North Kazakhstan Region).

Electoral history In the 2004 and 2023 legislative elections, Şoraev unsuccessfully ran for a seat in the Mäjilis. Officially earning 31,669 of the 177,164 votes, Şoraev lost to blogger Däulet Muqaev, but disputed the election results. In response, Muqaev outlined the election observers present and criticised Şoraev for being more active on social media covering the Russian invasion of Ukraine rather than campaigning.

During the 2023 legislative election, Şoraev was the center of another controversy for allegedly insulting parliamentary candidates of the People's Party of Kazakhstan (QHP). Though Şoraev stated that he was intending to insult the QHP chairman Ermukhamet Ertisbaev instead, the court found him guilty of spreading misinformation about other political candidates in order to excel electorally and fined him.

Political positions Domestic politics In 2022, Şoraev criticised the 7th Parliament of Kazakhstan for its sycophancy to the 2nd President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. Commenting on the deputies posting a portrait of Tokayev with the caption "Let's unite around the President" in January 2022, he compared the acts to the former personality cult around Nursultan Nazarbayev. This comes a year after Şoraev also criticised the Mäjilis for electing unfit officials to ministerial positions. This statement, in which Şoraev controversially compared the Mäjilis to a donkey farm, came after the Minister of Ecology, Geology and Natural Resources Serıkqali Brekeşev was found not to have known the Kazakh language well enough.

Foreign affairs Since the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Şoraev has been a very vocal supporter of Ukraine and has given an interview to Ukrainian journalist Dmytro Hordon.

Personal life Şoraev is married to Zamira Şoraeva. Şoraev has four children and speaks Kazakh and Russian.