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

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

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

The vote will happen on June 5, only one month after the proposed reforms have been released. The reform bundle addresses 33 separate articles – about one third of the total 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 robust parliament,” per Tokayev’s state of the union tackle on March 16.

A super-presidential system is one where parliaments and courts are only nominally unbiased, and the president and their administration have practically unlimited control over political decision-making. Kazakhstan’s first step to a super-presidential system was the adoption of a new constitution in 1995 that was pushed by Nursultan Nazarbayev after dissolving an uncooperative parliament. Nazarbayev further consolidated his personal powers with constitutional amendments in 1998, 2007, and 2011.

Nazarbayev began to loosen the president’s management with constitutional amendments in 2017 that barely redistributed presidential powers to different branches of government and opened the path for the election of local representatives, at the least at the village stage. Nevertheless, Nazarbayev slyly maintained his personal management over Kazakhstan’s politics by including provisions that protected him as “elbasy,” or chief of the nation.

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

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Along with sidelining Nazarbayev, a number of proposed provisions would slightly restrict the power of the president. The president shouldn't be a member of a political social gathering, 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 party – a rebranded model of Nazarbayev’s ruling Nur Otan social gathering – on April 26. Moreover, the president can now not override the acts of akims of oblasts, main cities, or the capital and close family members of the president can not hold political posts.

A number of proposed measures give parliament more power vis-a-vis the president. Kazakhstan’s parliament will remain bicameral, however the distribution of power between the upper and decrease homes will shift considerably. The Senate will no longer have the ability to make new legal guidelines, and instead will just approve or reject legal guidelines handed by the Mazhilis. Moreover, the process for choosing deputies to both homes will change. 

First, the Mazhilis might be decreased to 98 deputies, following the abolition of nine seats appointed by the Assembly of the Peoples of Kazakhstan. Those seats can be transferred to the Senate, and the Assembly of the Peoples will now solely get to appoint five deputies. The number of deputies appointed by the president will probably be diminished from 15 to 10.

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

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

Tokayev has emphasised the significance of native governance, marked by the first-ever direct election of village akims and plans to introduce three new oblasts that can convey authorities bodies nearer to the populations they signify. Perhaps the most disappointing side of proposed reforms is the shortage of significant motion on native illustration for residents of Kazakhstan’s largest cities. If the referendum passes, Kazakhstanis will get to vote for akims of oblasts, major cities, and the capital – however, the candidates could have been selected by the president. The best to elect native leadership has been one of the consistent calls for from Almaty residents, and this attempt to create choice is finally beauty.

The proposed reforms are important steps toward real consultant government in Kazakhstan; nevertheless, they don't necessarily represent forward motion. Most of the amendments are simply reinstating mechanisms of checks on presidential energy that beforehand existed, somewhat than materially altering the relationship between state and society, as Tokayev claims.