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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Kazakstan
Index
The postindependence government was structured by the 1993 constitution
with a strong executive branch, a parliament, and a judicial branch. In
practice, the administration of Nursultan Nazarbayev dominated governance
sufficiently to impel the writing of a new constitution providing
justification for the one-man rule that developed in the early 1990s.
Executive Branch
The constitution formalizes the increased power that President
Nazarbayev assumed upon the invalidation of parliament in early 1995. It
continues the previous constitutional definition of Kazakstan as a unitary
state with a presidential form of government. The president is the highest
state officer, responsible for naming the government--subject to
parliamentary approval--and all other republic officials. The 1995
constitution expands the president's power in introducing and vetoing
legislation. The government that the president appoints consists of the
Council of Ministers, headed by a prime minister, and several state
committees. In early 1996, after Nazarbayev had reshuffled the government
in October 1995, the Council of Ministers included the heads of twenty-one
ministries and nine state committees; the prime minister was Akezhan
Kazhegeldin. In the October 1995 shift, Nazarbayev himself assumed the
portfolio of the Ministry of National Security.
The new constitution does not provide for the position of vice
president, although it permitted the incumbent vice president, Yerik
Asanbayev, to remain in office until 1996. The president has the power to
declare states of emergency during which the constitution can be
suspended. The president is the sponsor of legislation and the guarantor
of the constitution and of the proper functioning of government, with the
power to override the decisions and actions of local authorities and
councils. The only grounds on which a president can be removed are
infirmity and treason, either of which must be confirmed by a majority of
the joint upper and lower houses of the new parliament. In the event of
such a removal from power, the prime minister would become the temporary
president.
Legislative Branch
The 1993 constitution created a unicameral parliament, which was to
replace the 350-seat Supreme Soviet when the mandates of that body's
deputies expired in 1995. Composed overwhelmingly of career communists,
the 1990 parliament had been a balky and turgid partner for the task of
economic and political reform. Although he probably lacked the legal
authority to do so, Nazarbayev pressured this parliament into a "voluntary"
early dissolution in December 1993 in order to allow the seating of a
smaller and presumably more pliant "professional parliament."
Under the 1995 constitution, the parliament consists of two houses, the
Senate and the Majlis, both operating in continuous session. Each of
Kazakstan's nineteen provinces and the city of Almaty, which has province
status, have two senators. These are chosen for four-year terms by joint
sessions of the provinces' legislative bodies. An additional seven
senators are appointed directly by the president. In addition,
ex-presidents automatically receive the status of senators-for-life. The
Majlis has sixty-seven representatives, including one from each of
fifty-five districts drawn to have roughly equal populations, and the
Senate has forty seats. Direct elections for half the seats are held every
two years. In the first election under the new parliamentary structure,
all seats in both houses of parliament were contested in December 1995;
runoff elections filled twenty-three seats in the Majlis for which the
initial vote was inconclusive. International observers reported procedural
violations in the Majlis voting. The new parliament, which was seated in
January 1996, included sixty-eight Kazak and thirty-one Russian deputies;
only ten deputies were women.
The initiative for most legislative actions originates with the
president. If parliament passes a law that the president vetoes, a
two-thirds vote of both houses is required to override the veto. A similar
margin is needed to express no confidence in a prime minister, an action
that requires the president to name a new prime minister and Council of
Ministers.
Judicial System
The judicial system is the least developed of Kazakstan's three
branches of government. Although Minister of Justice Nagashibay Shaykenov
objected strenuously, the constitution retains the practice of
presidential appointment of all judges in the republic. The 1993
constitution specified terms of service for judges, but the 1995 document
makes no mention of length of service, suggesting that judges will serve
at the president's pleasure.
Under the 1993 constitution, lines of judicial authority were poorly
defined, in part because the republic had three "highest courts"--the
Supreme Court, the State Arbitrage Court, and the Constitutional
Court--which among them employed a total of sixty-six senior judges. Many
of these senior judges, as well as numerous judges in lower courts, had
been retained from the Soviet era, when the judicial branch was entirely
under the control of the central government. The 1995 constitution makes
no provision for the State Abritrage Court, which had heard economic
disputes among enterprises and between enterprises and government
agencies. Provisions for the new judiciary clearly subordinate all other
courts to the Supreme Court, which also has a consultative role in
appointing senior judges.
Local Government
Kazakstan is divided into nineteen provinces, and the city of Almaty
has administrative status equal to that of a province. In turn, the
provinces are divided into regions that consist of a number of settlement
points. Each province and region and most settlements have their own
elective councils, charged with drawing up a budget and supervising local
taxation. Cities have their own local councils as well, and large cities
are divided into regions, each of which has its own council.
The local legislatures lack the authority to choose the local
executive, who is appointed directly by the president. The local executive
has the job of ensuring that decisions of the national government are
enforced and that the constitution is observed. Province and regional "heads
of administration," known by the Russian term glav or the
Kazak term hakim , are presidential appointees. The hakim
, in turn, appoints the members of his staff, who are the department heads
of the jurisdiction. The hakim also can reverse budgetary
decisions of the local councils.
There has been considerable pressure, especially in the predominantly
Russian north, to make the hakim posts elective rather than
appointive. In 1994 Nazarbayev indicated that he would consider doing so,
but the 1995 constitution provides only that the local councils can
express no confidence in their hakim by a two-thirds vote. The
president also has the power to override or revoke decisions taken by
local councils; a hakim has the power to control budgetary
decisions taken by the local council.
Data as of March 1996
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