A meeting of the Working Group on Parliamentary Reform was held in Astana with the participation of Head of State Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.
At the beginning of the event, State Counselor Yerlan Karin briefed the President on the Working Group's activities, noting the significant scope of proposed constitutional amendments to transform Parliament. The State Counselor presented the Working Group's shared vision, emphasizing that the reforms will contribute to the modernization of the political system in line with the demands of the times.
Presidential Aide for Legal Affairs Yerzhan Zhienbayev outlined the key approaches to constitutional reform developed by the Working Group based on citizen proposals. Specifically, since October of last year, meetings have addressed the full range of issues related to the new unicameral Parliament, including its size, terms of office, election procedures, lawmaking mechanisms, and interactions with other government institutions.
Natalia Pan, Director of the Institute of Parliamentarism, reported on proposals from citizens, experts, and public associations submitted to the e-Otinish and eGov platforms. Over the course of several months, all seven political parties, dozens of non-governmental organizations, businesses, legal scholars, and experts have submitted their constitutional reform initiatives. Along with proposals for parliamentary reform, the Working Group received approximately 1,600 citizen appeals concerning the general constitutional structure and the improvement of political and public institutions.
Elnur Beisenbayev, leader of the AMANAT party faction in the Majilis, Azat Peruashev, leader of the Ak Zhol party, and Askhat Rakhimzhanov, leader of the National Social Democratic Party faction, emphasized the scale of the upcoming constitutional changes as part of the parliamentary reform in their speeches. According to them, citizens showed keen interest in the upcoming political reform at working meetings of deputies in the regions.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Constitutional Legislation, the Judicial System, and Law Enforcement Agencies, Nurlan Beknazarov, Majilis deputies Unzila Shapak, Marat Bashimov, and Nikita Shatalov, and political scientist Burikhan Nurmukhamedov also presented their ideas and proposals.
Summing up the meeting, the Head of State noted that almost six months have passed since the discussions on constitutional reform began. During this time, society as a whole has developed a clear understanding of the goals and objectives of the upcoming transformation of the country's highest legislative body.
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev noted that he is closely monitoring the public debate that has unfolded since his September State of the Nation Address and is carefully reviewing all the results of the discussions, expert opinions, proposed amendments, and numerous citizen proposals for constitutional reform.
Speaking about the significance and content of reforming the political system, the President emphasized that a profound reconstruction of the institutional framework and a systemic reformatting of the legislative branch of government are required.
"Tomorrow, at the National Kurultai meeting, I will present my specific ideas on this issue. A fundamentally new political model is essentially being formed in the country. Implementing parliamentary reform will require revising several sections of the Constitution at once. Therefore, taking into account the changes previously made to our Basic Law, the draft amendments proposed by the Working Group allow us to declare that the substance of the new Constitution of Kazakhstan is being considered," the Head of State said.
By the Kazakhstanskaya Pravda
