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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Kazakstan
Index
After the early dissolution in 1993 of Kazakstan's first parliament, an
election for the 177 seats of the new, "professional" parliament
was held in March 1994. The election was so closely managed and restricted
by the government that observers from the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE; before 1995, the Conference on Security and
Cooperation in Europe--CSCE--see Glossary) initially were reluctant to
certify the election as fair.
Despite his careful electoral management, Nazarbayev netted a reliable
bloc of only about sixty of the 177 seats. The remaining deputies quickly
organized themselves into a "constructive" opposition bloc, a
center-left configuration calling itself Respublika. It included a number
of disparate political groups. A subgroup of Respublika organized a shadow
cabinet to provide alternative viewpoints and programs to those of the
government.
At the end of May 1994, the parliament passed a vote of no confidence
in the government of Prime Minister Sergey Tereshchenko, who had been in
office since 1991. Nazarbayev put off dismissing Tereshchenko, citing the
provision of the 1993 constitution giving the president the right to name
the prime minister, subject only to parliamentary confirmation. By
midyear, however, parliament was in rebellion against the president, and a
new faction of Respublika, including a broad range of communist,
nationalist, and special-issue parties, demanded the resignations of
Nazarbayev and Tereshchenko.
In mid-October, following a month-long scandal over the private
dealings of Tereshchenko's ministers of internal affairs and the economy
(the second of whom was indicted), Nazarbayev was finally forced to
dismiss the Tereshchenko government. Nazarbayev named industrialist
Akezhan Kazhegeldin to replace Tereshchenko. As chief of a northern
industrial conglomerate, Kazhegeldin, a Kazak, was closely associated with
the Russian-controlled sector of Kazakstan prior to 1991.
Thus, by late 1994 parliament was emerging as a particular focus for
anti-Nazarbayev sentiment. Although extremely unproductive itself, passing
only seven laws during its year of existence, parliament severely impeded
Nazarbayev's privatization programs, causing the complete cessation of
privatization voucher distribution. At the end of 1994, the parliament
issued its own alternative New Economic Policy, in competition with
Nazarbayev's, and parliament also attempted to take over actual
disbursement of funds for the state budget. At the same time, parliament
was providing a forum for several skilled and well-financed men to
position themselves for a challenge to Nazarbayev in the presidential
election scheduled for 1996.
In March 1995, Kazakstan's Constitutional Court ruled the 1994
parliamentary election invalid because of procedural irregularities that,
among other things, waived certain requirements for pro-Nazarbayev
candidates. After filing a token objection, Nazarbayev announced the
dissolution of parliament and new elections to be held in two or three
months. The Council of Ministers that had been approved by that parliament
then resigned en masse. Using emergency powers granted him upon the
dissolution of the 1990-93 parliament, Nazarbayev reappointed Prime
Minister Kazhegeldin, who installed a new Council of Ministers. Unlike its
virtually all-Kazak predecessor, the new body put the key Ministry of
Finance under a Russian, Aleksandr Pavlov, and gave the Ministry of the
Economy portfolio to a Middle Horde Kazak from the Russified north. One of
Kazhegeldin's two new first deputy prime ministers was Kazak; the other
was Russian. The new head of the Privatization Commission, Sarybay
Kalmurzayev, also apparently was a Middle Horder. He not only began to
permit privatization auctioneers to accept cash in addition to vouchers,
but also began to give Russian companies rights of first refusal in
privatization of large industrial plants, especially military ones. In
April 1995, Nazarbayev staged a referendum that ratified extension of his
presidency until December 2000 by a 95 percent majority. In December 1995,
Nazarbayev issued a decree enabling him to annul any existing law, demand
the government's resignation, or order new parliamentary elections. This
step furthered the authoritarian direction of Kazakstan's government.
Data as of March 1996
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