Tokayev proposes constitutional reforms to limit presidential powers in Kazakhstan

Tokayev proposes constitutional reforms to limit presidential powers in Kazakhstan
President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev at his swearing in ceremony in 2019.
By bne IntelliNews March 17, 2022

Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has proposed constitutional reforms to limit the powers of his office, saying the nation needed to end its system of “super presidential” rule to switch to a presidential republic with a strong parliament.

Tokayev came to power in 2019 with the backing from predecessor Nursultan Nazarbayev, who had resigned after ruling the oil-rich nation for 30 years, but continued retain sweeping powers until the January political unrest, which saw Tokayev rapidly consolidate power and begin removing Nazarbayev’s family from key influential positions around the country.

The most recent developments included the arrest of Nazarbayev’s nephew, Kairat Satybaldy, who the investigators are linking to the deadly January unrest. Moreover, Kazakh authorities have for the first time shamed Nazarbayev’s brother Bolat Nazarbayev over his involvement in lucrative crypto mining businesses, which have been labelled as detrimental to the health of Kazakhstan’s economic security after a mass migration of crypto mining firms to the country has put a strain on its energy grid. 

Addressing the Central Asian nation’s parliament on March 16, Tokayev proposed rolling back a number of legal changes that at the time had helped Nazarbayev cement his grip on power. He called specifically for changing the parliamentary election system and re-establishing the constitutional court.

Tokayev also said he intended to recreate three provinces that were merged with other regions in the 1990s, distance the ruling party, which he took over from Nazarbayev, from the government and reduce the number of president-appointed parliament deputies.

He also proposed a reform to make the process of registering new political parties easier by reducing the number of people required to establish a party to 5,000 from the current requirement of 20,000 people.

Following the unrest, Tokayev vowed to both enact democratic reforms and to address the economic anxieties of the population, which led to the protests that spawned the January unrest. However, many of Tokayev’s promises have been widely seen as populist rhetoric to calm an angered population following the unrest.

The regime's treatment of dissidents does not appear to have changed under Tokayev as seen in this week’s placement of Kazakh opposition leader Zhanbolat Mamai in pre-trial detention, which will keep him jailed for at least two month, when he was originally set for release after 15 days of detention. Mamai was detained for organising an unsanctioned rally to commemorate the victims of January events, which took the lives of at least 230 people. 

The crackdowns that followed the unrest reportedly included inhumane interrogation tactics, including torture and thousands of Kazakh citizens who took part in the protests have been jailed for several months. 

As such, Tokayev’s promises of effective democratic reforms will likely be viewed by observers with scepticism.

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