EurasiaNet Civil Society - Kazakhstan Plans Political Reform

CIVIL SOCIETY

KAZAKHSTAN PLANS POLITICAL REFORM
Joanna Lillis 2/26/07

A proposal to reorganize Kazakhstan’s political system would reconfigure the legislature, while enhancing its powers. Ultimately, however, the executive branch would retain a preponderance of power.

Kazakhstan’s State Democracy Commission wound up nearly a year of work on February 19, making non-binding recommendations on political reform. President Nursultan Nazarbayev chaired the session, welcoming the proposals � but stressing that there was no question of Kazakhstan turning away from a powerful presidency. "Society has learnt an important lesson, realizing that powerful authorities and democracy are not polar opposites," he told delegates.

The commission � comprising leading administration officials, MPs, political activists and NGO representatives - was established in March 2006 in connection with Kazakhstan’s overall effort to promote political and economic modernization. [For additional information see the Eurasia Insight archive]. The commission’s biggest proposed changes concern parliament. One would alter the election format for the lower house, the Mazhilis, by boosting the number of deputies elected on party lists to 50 percent, with the rest elected to single-seat constituencies. In the current system, 10 are elected on party lists and 67 to single-seat constituencies.

Nazarbayev called for a clear choice between a majority system and proportional representation. He spoke out against expanding the number of Mazhilis seats, calling for a "compact and professional parliament." However, he supported a bid to expand the upper house by reserving a quota in the Senate for the Assembly of Peoples of Kazakhstan, which brings together the leaders of Kazakhstan’s ethnic minorities and is composed largely of delegates loyal to Nazarbayev.

The president also backed proposals to hand some of his powers to parliament, including the right to nominate members to the Constitutional Court, the Central Electoral Commission and the Audit Committee. Parliament may also gain oversight over the budget and input in the formation of the government.

Critics contend that Nazarbayev would not experience any significant loss of power under the new system, given the existing parliament’s near-absolute loyalty to his political course. Kazakhstan’s parliament currently contains just one opposition member and rarely challenges government policies. The largest party in parliament currently is Nur Otan, which controls 46 out of 77 seats and is led by Nazarbayev himself. Nur Otan has been consolidating itself by swallowing up other parties and now looks set to step into the role of official majority party, if such a position emerges from the political reform ahead. Addressing the democracy commission, Nazarbayev � who backed the idea of public funding for political parties - described Nur Otan as "de facto the parliamentary majority party."

The commission put forward proposals to transfer more powers to local councils, but opposition parties argue that true accountability on a regional level can only be brought about by making the powerful office of regional governor popularly elected, rather than appointed by the president.

The impetus for reform appears to be economic development rather than democracy. While supportive of the proposed changes, Nazarbayev is nevertheless cautious, repeatedly warning against the type of revolutionary change seen in Ukraine, Georgia and neighboring Kyrgyzstan. Speaking to the democracy commission, he spoke at length about the potential dangers of upheaval: "The recent experience of our CIS neighbors has demonstrated with all obviousness that democracy cannot be built where citizens do not observe the law and constitutional order, where deep-rooted social chaos reigns. � Not in vain do many think that the results of the �colored’ revolutions that have taken place constitute crisis and dashed hopes."

Some of the mooted reforms in Kazakhstan would mean amendments to the constitution, requiring either a vote in parliament or a nationwide referendum. A working group that will consider constitutional reform, chaired by Nazarbayev; held its first session on February 20. Critics argue that the envisioned reforms would not be far-reaching enough to provide for a political system with genuine checks on executive authority.

The political reform effort, officials in Astana seem to hope, will help assuage Western concerns about Kazakhstan’s democratization process. Dissatisfaction with Kazakhstan’s practices contributed to the postponement of a decision on the Central Asian country’s bid to chair the OSCE in 2009. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Even if the political reforms get on the fast track to implementation, several issues will continue to cloud Kazakhstan’s OSCE chairmanship bid. For one, several Kazakhstani political parties have been unable to gain official registration. The Alga opposition party has been battling for registration for 18 months, and the center-right Atameken party has had its registration bid frozen. Its leader, Yerzhan Dosmukhamedov, has accused the presidential administration of being behind the setback.

Media freedom is also a controversial issue. OSCE media representative Miklos Haraszti recently called on Kazakhstan to abolish defamation laws giving special protection to officials, after journalist Kazis Toguzbayev was given a suspended sentence in January for libeling the president. Meanwhile on February 22, officials from the OSCE Advisory Panel of Experts on Freedom of Religion called attention to an ongoing land dispute between the government and Hare Krishnas. During talks with Kazakhstan’s ombudsman, Bolat Baykadamov, panel members called for a fair solution to the dispute, in which the government is trying to evict members of the Krishna community from the farm on which they live. On January 30, a Kazakhstani court granted the government permission to confiscate the land. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Nazarbayev insists that Kazakhstan is moving inexorably along a democratic path, while sending a clear message that liberalism is not tantamount to a free rein. "In the post-Soviet space, without the experience of a democratic culture, we have a simplified understanding of liberalism as the weakness of the authorities and the right to complete liberty. � Freedom and liberalism must be placed level with responsibility to the law. Then we can maintain stability. Then we will have the opportunity to develop Kazakhstan as a free democratic society," he told the commission.

Editor�s Note: Joanna Lillis is a freelance writer who specializes in Central Asian affairs.

The Central Eurasia Project aims, through its website, meetings, papers, and grants, to foster a more informed debate about the social, political and economic developments of the Caucasus and Central Asia. It is a program of the Open Society Institute-New York. The Open Society Institute-New York is a private operating and grantmaking foundation that promotes the development of open societies around the world by supporting educational, social, and legal reform, and by encouraging alternative approaches to complex and controversial issues.

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