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Kazakhstan |
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Last reviewed: 27 June 2008 |
Country information
POLITICS
President
President Nazarbaev was elected with 98% of the vote on 1 December 1991. In 1995, a referendum approved the extension of his term of office until 2000. In autumn 1998 he called Presidential elections for January 1999, nearly two years early. Despite OSCE concerns about the fairness of elections held at such short notice, the elections went ahead. Nazarbayev won with an alleged 79% of the vote.
The most recent Presidential elections were held on 4 December 2005. Nazarbayev won a second term in office under the 1995 Constitution with 91.16% of the vote. Again the OSCE/ODIHR Observation Mission found that, despite some pre-election administrative improvements, many of the recommendations had not been implemented and the elections did not fully meet OSCE standards.
President Nazarbaev sees his greatest achievement as building an independent country without violence or a split along ethnic or religious lines. He has also overseen some of the most extensive financial and economic reforms in the former Soviet Union. Another of his achievements is that he got rid of nuclear weapons on Kazakh territory.
Parliament
The Parliament of Kazakhstan is bicameral and consists of the Lower House (Majilis) and the Upper House (Senate). On 16 May 2007, President Nazarbayev presented a set of constitutional amendments to a joint session of the Senate and Majilis. These amendments, based on recommendations drawn up by the State Commission of Democracy, were approved and included increasing the size of the Majilis to 107 and the number of Senators to 47.
The amendments changed the election system for the Majilis from a constituency basis to a proportional representation one. In the parliamentary elections on 18 August, 98 members of the Majilis were elected by this system; the remaining 9 represent the Assembly of Peoples to guarantee ethnic diversity among members of the Majilis. (The Assembly of Peoples was formed in 1995 and represent the various ethnic minority groups in Kazakhstan).
Fifteen Senators were appointed by the President. The additional Senators were chosen through consultation with the Assembly of Peoples, again to reflect the diverse mix of the country.
The amendments increased Parliament’s powers including approval of the prime minister and control over the work of government. Parliament’s role in the appointment of bodies such as the Central Election Commission also increased.
Following the constitutional reforms, Nazarbayev on 20 June ordered parliamentary elections for 18 August, to be held at the same time as the maslikhat elections. Under the election rules, the Majilis seats were distributed among the parties on a proportional representation basis. To obtain seats in parliament, each party needed to poll at least 7% of the votes
Political Parties
There are currently 10 registered parties in Kazakhstan. Political parties are generally based on the personal appeal of leading individuals rather than political orientation.
In 2002, the 1996 Law on Political Parties was amended to include an increase in the minimum number of registered members from 3,000 to 50,000. The effect was to considerably reduce the number of registered political parties. During the 1999 parliamentary elections, 19 political parties were registered. Only 12 parties were registered during the 2004 parliamentary elections.
In March 2005 several of the opposition groups united to form a pre-electoral bloc called For a Just Kazakhstan movement (FJK). The movement was led by former Majilis Speaker Zharmakhan Tuyakbai. He resigned as speaker in November 2004 in protest at what he saw as the manipulation of the September 2004 parliamentary elections. In the December 2005 presidential elections, Tuyakbai received 6.61% of the votes.
In September 2006, Tuyakbai set up a new opposition party, the Social Democratic Party. The Social Democratic Party was registered on 26 January 2007. Two parties, the pro-presidential party, Atameken (Motherland) and Alga, the opposition party comprising of members of the dissolved Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan party, are still seeking registration with the Ministry of Justice.
Several opposition parties merged in the run-up to the parliamentary elections. Ak Zhol joined with Adilet a party representing lawyers (the parties split after the elections). True Ak Zhol merged with the NSDP to become the United Social Democratic Party (USDP). However, the USDP are still widely referred to as the NSDP. These moves were prompted in part by a constitutional amendment imposing a ban on the setting-up of election blocs and alliances ahead of the elections. This left merger as the only option available to those parties wishing to join forces.
The months before the elections also saw the consolidation of pro-presidential forces. In July 2006 Asar, the party of the President’s eldest daughter Dariga Nazarbaeva, joined with Otan. In December, two other pro-government parties, the Agrarian and Civic Parties, merged with Otan. Otan was renamed Nur Otan, a renaming which hints at the first name of the leader- Nursultan Nazarbayev- in December 2006. Nazarbayev became Nur Otan’s official leader at the party congress on 4 July 2007.
Elections
The elections to the lower chamber of the Kazakh parliament were held on 18 August. Seven out of the eight parties contested the election. The Communist Party of Kazakhstan decided to boycott the election in protest at the introduction of proportional representation.
The final results were:
Nur Otan: 88.41%
USDP: 4.54%
Ak Zhol: 3.09%
Aul: 1.51%
People’s Communist Party: 1.29%
Patriotic Party: 0.78%
Ruhaniyat: 0.37%
Given the 7% threshold, Nur Otan took all 98 seats. None of the other parties cleared the 7% requirement to gain representation in parliament. Neither were any of the final 9 seats chosen by the Assembly of Peoples awarded to the opposition.
The OSCE/ODIHR observation mission reported some areas of progress, particularly as regards the information work of the Central Election Commission and the media campaign. However, several fundamental OSCE requirements were not observed, in particular some elements of electoral legislation and the actual vote count, where more than 39% of observers gave negative assessments.
The two opposition parties, Ak Zhol and USDP, refused to recognise the results. The opposition stated that the results did not reflect the real proportion of political power and that the parliamentary elections were not a step forward.
True Ak Zhol and the Social Democratic Party split after the elections. On 29 February 2008, True Ak Zhol changed its name to Azat (freedom in Kazakh).
Reform and Democratisation
Since the December 2005, elections there have been a small number of concrete steps towards political reforms and democratisation. On 15 April 2006 a contentious article, implying undue prohibition on the right of freedom of assembly, was removed from the Election Law.
On 24 March 2006 a new State Commission on Democratisation was established, chaired by President Nazarbayev. It was tasked to work on: widening of the powers of legislative bodies, introduction of local self-governance, improving the judiciary and law enforcement bodies, development of civil society, and constitutional development. But the opposition mostly stayed away, claiming that the Commission was a rubber stamp of the President.
On 19 February 2007 the State Commission on Democratisation submitted its final report. Their proposals formed the basis of the constitutional amendments presented by President Nazarbayev on 16 May 2007 to Parliament. As well as increasing the size of Parliament, the amendments will give a stronger role to the local elected councils, the Maslikhats.
The term of office of the President will be reduced from 7 years to 5 with a bar on the President running more than twice in a row. However, on 18 May Parliament passed an amendment exempting the first president of the country (Nazarbayev). He is therefore able to run for President as long as he wishes.
The political opposition protest that they lack access to a free and independent media. Opposition newspapers regularly face obstacles such as libel suits, withdrawal of registration and cancellation of printing contracts. Recent amendments to the media law have further increased the control of the authorities over the media. However, a new media law has been drafted by several non-governmental organisations working together with the official Congress of Journalists. The law is currently with Parliament. Whether this new draft will be accepted and whether it will respond to the opposition's protests and reduce the difficulties faced by the opposition media remains to be seen.
HUMAN RIGHTS
Kazakhstan's performance on human rights since independence has been patchy. NGOs are active and civil society is developing steadily. But opposition activists are subject to harassment, there are limitations on freedom of assembly for political rallies, and freedom of the press is severely curtailed. Prison conditions have improved and the prison population is decreasing with alternatives to imprisonment being introduced. But there is still concern over TB and HIV/AIDS infection rates.
Kazakhstan signed two core UN human rights conventions: the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in November 2003.(both since ratified in December 2005).
HMG, the European Commission and the OSCE are all working on projects in support of the implementation of ICCPR.
The President announced a death penalty moratorium in December 2003. Life imprisonment legislation was introduced in January 2004. On 30 December 2005, the Senate passed the jury bill introducing a continental model (judges and lay people deliberate together both as to the guilt of the accused and the appropriate punishment) for death penalty and life imprisonment cases. The first jury trials started in January 2007.
The constitutional amendments of May 2007 restricted the passing of death sentences to cover only serious crimes committed during wartime and acts of terrorism resulting in death. Other reforms included the transfer of sanction of arrest from the Prosecutor to the courts and introduction of juvenile courts
In September 2007, Kazakhstan signed the First Optional Protocol to the ICCPR and the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT). On 3 June 2008, Kazakhstan ratified OPCAT.
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Contacts
Address:
Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan
33 Thurloe Square
London SW7 2DS
Telephone:
020 7581 4646
Fax:
020 7584 8481
020 7584 9905 (Consular)
Email: london@kazakhstan-embassy.org.uk
Office hours:
Mon-Fri: 0900-1200, 1400-1800
Mon-Fri: 0900-1200 (Visas) (except Wed)
Website: http://www.kazembassy.org.uk