Kazakhstan has embarked on large-scale reforms

In Strasbourg, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted a written declaration entitled «Support for Kazakhstan’s Democratic Reforms and Regional Leadership». The document is high timely, given the real scale of the domestic political reforms that President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev continues. 

The initiator of the document was British parliamentarian Michael German, a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe. The Declaration was signed by 21 parliamentarians representing various countries and political groups in PACE.

The Declaration highly appreciates Kazakhstan’s unwavering commitment to implementing large-scale democratic reforms, thereby strengthening the country’s status as a regional leader in democratic governance, human rights protection, and the rule of law.

PACE members welcome the significant steps taken by Kazakhstan’s political leadership to advance democratic transformations, including constitutional and legislative reforms and the abolition of the death penalty.

Special attention is paid to cooperation between Kazakhstan and the Council of Europe in key areas, including judicial reform, the fight against corruption, the promotion of human rights and the strengthening of democratic institutions. This cooperation has led to tangible results and strengthened Kazakhstan’s role as a model of democratic development in the region.

PACE members call for further support for the ongoing democratic transformations in Kazakhstan and the development of cooperation to promote the common values of democracy, human rights and the rule of law.

Indeed, the adoption of this Declaration reflects an important initiative of the Council of Europe in relation to Kazakhstan. Considering that the leadership of Kazakhstan, a large country in Central Asia, has embarked on large–scale reforms.

So, on January 21, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev spoke at the National Kurultai, where he announced large-scale government reforms.

The Kurultai is an advisory body created on the personal initiative of President Tokayev, which aims to enable a wide range of people to speak out on important policy issues.

However, it is now being abolished.

In Kazakhstan, the name Kurultai will be given to the unicameral parliament, which will replace the two chambers of the current supreme legislative body of the country – the Majilis (lower house) and the Senate (upper house) within a year.

Unlike the current bicameral parliament, which has a total of 148 deputies, the new legislative body, the Kurultai, will have 145.

The working group on parliamentary reform came to the number of 145 deputy seats, having studied the proposals of various citizens. The number of parliamentary committees in the Kurultai will be reduced to eight (currently there are eleven), the chairman of the parliament will be allowed to have three deputies, instead of two for each speaker of both chambers of the still-functioning supreme legislative body of the country. Deputies of the unicameral Kurultai will also receive the authority to form the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Audit Chamber and the Central Election Commission, whose composition is still being determined by the President of the country and coordinated with the Senate.

The term of office of deputies, who will be elected by the population for five years, is also changing. In the current parliament, deputies of the Mazhilis are elected in direct elections for five years, and senators in indirect elections through local representative bodies for six years. At the same time, the elections to the Kurultai will be held exclusively according to the proportional system based on party lists. The minimum threshold is 5 percent.

“Our main goal is to create a truly effective and professional parliament. The new legislative body should maximally support large-scale changes in the country from a legislative point of view,” Kassym-Jomart Tokayev stressed.

Kazakhstan will have a People’s Council and a vice-president.

The consultative and advisory body, the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan, created on the initiative of Nursultan Nazarbayev in 1995, which united the national cultural centers of 130 nationalities living in the country, is also being abolished in the country. In accordance with the current constitutional legislation, nine of its representatives, as an exception, have deputy mandates in the lower house of the Parliament of Kazakhstan. There are 10 more parliamentary seats in the Senate, which are often occupied by representatives of various nationalities according to the presidential quota. During his speech in Kyzylorda, President Tokayev announced that there would be no more quotas.

“During the discussion, I was asked to leave the president’s quota in parliament. But I am sure that the new parliament does not need anyone’s tutelage or control. There should be no specially appointed “elected persons” among the deputies. They must be elected according to a single general procedure. Accordingly, the special quota of the Assembly of People of Kazakhstan will also be abolished,” the Kazakh president said.

Instead of the abolished Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan and the People’s Kurultai, Tokayev initiated the creation of the Halyk Kenes (People’s Council). According to him, this new advisory body will be endowed with the right of legislative initiative, and will meet at least once a year. “The People’s Council will essentially become a new government body that has absorbed the experience of advisory structures from other countries. All ethnic groups, population groups and regions will be represented in it. The People’s Council of Kazakhstan will have the status of the country’s highest advisory body. The composition of the Council is proposed to consist of 126 people: 42 from ethnocultural associations, 42 from large public associations, 42 from maslikhats (local representative bodies) and regional public councils,” Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said, adding that all members of the People’s Council will be appointed by the president, and the chairman will be elected by its members.

Another important innovation announced by the President of Kazakhstan, which concerns the country’s top leadership and will be enshrined in the Constitution, is also important.

The post of Secretary of State is abolished in the country and after the referendum, the date of which has not yet been determined, the institute of the Vice-President of the Republic of Kazakhstan is established. Tokayev noted that the president himself will appoint the vice president with the consent of the Kurultai by a simple majority vote.

It is assumed that the duties of the Vice President will include representing the country’s interests at international forums and negotiations with foreign delegations, speaking on behalf of the president in Parliament and interacting with socio-political, scientific, cultural and educational circles at home and abroad. In addition, the staff of the existing parliamentary structures is expected to be reduced and the presidential administration will undergo deep reforms.

Expert opinion

Karlygash Jamankulova, head of the Kazakh Foundation for the Protection of Freedom of Speech “Adil soz”, a member of the working group on parliamentary reform, told Deutsche Welle that Tokayev’s theses on the upcoming constitutional reform indicate a movement towards the real building of a democratic society in the country.

“Unfortunately, over the years, people have become accustomed to the fact that the government is very opportunistic and changes the Basic Law of the country to suit their needs. And when proposals appear that work for the strategic interests of the whole country and the entire population, it is very inspiring. I really hope that everything will work out, which I’m thinking about. If this happens, then President Tokayev will go down in the history of the country as the founder of democratic Kazakhstan, ” the expert said.

According to her, in his keynote address, the head of state took into account almost all the wishes that were voiced during the discussions at the meetings of the working group. For example, in terms of the number of deputies in the future unicameral parliament. “I think he named the most optimal number of deputies. My proposal was to leave 130 deputies in the region, and 145 deputies leaves a good proportion of representativeness, given that the population of Kazakhstan may grow significantly. This is actually one representative per 100,000 voters,” Karlygash Jamankulova said in an interview with DW.

In this regard, PACE supports the reforms that have begun under the leadership of President K.Tokayeva is timely and useful for the bilateral relations between Kazakhstan and Central Asia.