What’s in Kazakhstan’s Constitutional Referendum? – The Diplomat

On June 5, Kazakhs will vote on a bundle of reforms meant to transform the nation from a super-presidential system to a “presidential system with a strong parliament.”

Six months after Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev known as protesters terrorists and requested support from the Russian-backed Collective Safety Treaty Organization to quell mass unrest, residents will participate in a referendum on constitutional reforms. 

The vote will happen on June 5, only one month after the proposed reforms were launched. The reform bundle addresses 33 separate articles – about one third of the entire constitutional articles – and was developed by a working group that Tokayev established in March. The reforms are stated to transform Kazakhstan from a super-presidential system to a “presidential system with a powerful parliament,” per Tokayev’s state of the union deal with on March 16.

An excellent-presidential system is one where parliaments and courts are solely nominally independent, and the president and their administration have nearly limitless control over political decision-making. Kazakhstan’s first step to a super-presidential system was the adoption of a brand new structure in 1995 that was pushed by Nursultan Nazarbayev after dissolving an uncooperative parliament. Nazarbayev further consolidated his private powers with constitutional amendments in 1998, 2007, and 2011.

Nazarbayev started to loosen the president’s management with constitutional amendments in 2017 that barely redistributed presidential powers to other branches of government and opened the path for the election of native representatives, at the very least at the village stage. However, Nazarbayev slyly maintained his personal control over Kazakhstan’s politics by together with provisions that protected him as “elbasy,” or leader of the nation.

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The proposed constitutional reforms strip the constitution of mentions of elbasy and the First President of the Republic, which some see as a continued sign of the Nazarbayev household’s fall from grace. 

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In addition to sidelining Nazarbayev, several proposed provisions would slightly limit the power of the president. The president should not be a member of a political celebration, which member of the working group Sara Idrysheva referred to as “the bravest step of our esteemed president.” In anticipation of this amendment, Tokayev stepped down as chairman of the Amanat celebration – a rebranded model of Nazarbayev’s ruling Nur Otan occasion – on April 26. Moreover, the president can no longer override the acts of akims of oblasts, major cities, or the capital and close members of the family of the president cannot maintain political posts.

A number of proposed measures give parliament more energy vis-a-vis the president. Kazakhstan’s parliament will remain bicameral, but the distribution of power between the upper and decrease homes will shift considerably. The Senate will now not have the power to make new laws, and instead will simply approve or reject legal guidelines passed by the Mazhilis. Moreover, the process for choosing deputies to each houses will change. 

First, the Mazhilis can be reduced to 98 deputies, following the abolition of 9 seats appointed by the Meeting of the Peoples of Kazakhstan. Those seats might be transferred to the Senate, and the Meeting of the Peoples will now only get to nominate five deputies. The number of deputies appointed by the president will probably be lowered from 15 to 10.

Second, Mazhilis deputies shall be elected in accordance with a blended system. Seventy percent of Mazhilis deputies shall be chosen by proportional elections, and 30 percent will likely be immediately elected.

The one proposed adjustments to the judicial system relate to the reestablishment of the Constitutional Court docket. Kazakhstan had a Constitutional Courtroom till the adoption of the 1995 structure, which instituted a weaker constitutional council. The president still maintains a powerful influence over the Constitutional Courtroom’s makeup, however, with the ability to pick the courtroom’s chairman and 4 of the judges; parliament chooses the opposite three.

Tokayev has emphasized the importance of local governance, marked by the first-ever direct election of village akims and plans to introduce three new oblasts that can carry government bodies closer to the populations they represent. Perhaps essentially the most disappointing aspect of proposed reforms is the lack of significant movement on native illustration for residents of Kazakhstan’s largest cities. If the referendum passes, Kazakhstanis will get to vote for akims of oblasts, main cities, and the capital – nonetheless, the candidates will have been chosen by the president. The suitable to elect local management has been some of the consistent calls for from Almaty residents, and this attempt to create choice is in the end beauty.

The proposed reforms are essential steps towards real representative government in Kazakhstan; nevertheless, they don't essentially constitute ahead motion. Many of the amendments are merely reinstating mechanisms of checks on presidential power that beforehand existed, fairly than materially changing the relationship between state and society, as Tokayev claims.