Consitutional Amendments: A Silver Lining
As Leila has written on the main page, Nazarbayev has again solidified and extended his powers through a Constitution Amendment. This “President for Life” clause– an exemption from term limits– is certainly interesting and problematic, but may be distracting from a bigger story. The truth is, there was never any question about Nazarbayev’s term; he will stay as long as he wants, period.
If we look beyond the unsurprising fact that Nazarbayev will probably not leave anytime soon (and I’m just trying to be pragmatic, not condoning the action), there is actually quite a lot to like in the raft of Amendments which passed. There are also some worrying trends, beyond Leila’s main point.
In his extended commentary on May 21st, Secretary of State Saudabayev lined out what these Amendments entail:
1. The presidential term (after Nazarbayev), will be cut from seven to five years.
2. The authorities of the Parliament and the representative branch will be strengthened overall in pursuit of greater “checks and balances”. A proportional system of electing members of Parliament will be introduced, with the number of deputies increased from 116 to 154. Nine of these members will be chosen by the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan.
3. A Prime Minister will now be appointed only with the approval of the majority of the Majilis. Deputies will now need only a simple majority for a vote of no confidence to pass, as opposed to the qualified majority of two thirds of the deputies previously required. Two thirds of the Constitutional Council, the Central Election Commission and the Accounting Committee will now be filled by the Parliament.
4. Direct financing of political parties and nongovernmental organizations will be introduced
5. The role of local self-government will be strengthened, as the maslikhats (local legislature) will now confirm Akims (governors) of cities and regions.
6. Finally, Kazakhstan will “basically” abolish the death penalty. Furthermore, in addition to jury trials, courts must now sanction arrests.
Five of these Amendments seem genuinely positive, especially the end of capital punishment (though one wonders what that “basically” entails). The fourth point is very worrisome, but only institutionalizes what is already common practice: the government funneling funds to parties and organizations which support the President. Of course, the “checks and balances” are essentially meaningless while Nazarbayev and his rabidly pro-Presidential parliament is around, but AFTER him, imagine how useful some of this could be for an opposition party.
on May 21st, 2007 at 4:13 pm
Interesting post. Maybe these amendments will really prove helpful several years down the line. Now, the pro-presidential parties’ dominant position in the Kazakhstani political landscape will be a guarantor for stability in the power balance as you rightly say.
Also of note is the president’s ability to dismiss parliament. Nathan over at The Registan discussed that with his readers.
The fifth point is interesting. For some while, the direct election of akims was pondered, which would make akims more accountable. With the local mazhilis being in charge of appointing him, local and regional politics will thus continue to be in the hands of the pro-presidential parties with the new amendments.
on May 22nd, 2007 at 10:59 am
Interesting way to look at it… Glass half full! About the 6th point - there was a moratorium on death penalty for a while.
on May 22nd, 2007 at 1:10 pm
I agree that local elections would have been preferable, but I still think this reform is better than nothing. When I first arrived in Kazakhstan, people told me there were “experiments” with local elections taking place, and hopefully they will be expanded. But if they are not (and there is a good chance they won’t be), I think the mazhilis being involved is at least a step in the right direction. And while I have not read the exact Russian or Kazakh texts of the Amendments, it seems like the oblasts could conceivably do both: have an election for the akim, and then have it approved by the mazhilis. While this would provide the pro-Presidential parties another chance to reject a democratically-elected akim, I don’t think any anti-Presidential candidate has a realistic chance of winning many votes anyway, given the media climate here. You are certainly right that none of mazhilis have the guts to reject a Nazarbayev appointee, but they might use their new powers against the NEXT President.
With regards to the death penalty: I sat in on a discussion about the prison system a few months ago our Regional Cultural Center, and the moratorium was mentioned. The way I heard it described, it sounded like some of the conservative elements here wanted to bring it back. Hopefully this Amendment will make rejection of capital punishment more difficult to repeal.
However, this leads to a final point, which I did not put in my post because it was covered so well by Leila’s commentators: it is ridiculously easy to amend the Constitution. 17 minutes?! That’s crazy.
on May 22nd, 2007 at 7:24 pm
As for local elections of the Akim, just let the northern regions (Pavlodar, Ust-Kamenogorsk etc) elect a Slav with sympathies for Russia and we’ll see how long that experiment lasts.
on May 23rd, 2007 at 9:40 am
In reality, the amendments are not too encouraging as advertized by official Astana and some of its agents like Ariel Cohen from the Heritage Foundation(see his today’s opinion in WashTimes). Lawyers made an analysis and put it in a comparative table (you can find it here in Russian - http://zonakz.net/articles/17796)
To be more focused
- yes, the term has been cut. But constitutional enactment of one man’s exclusiveness is a very worrying precedent.
- the Parliament’s authorities are widened only to the same extent as they are narrowed. The increased number does not mean anything if they all would be elected unfairly. Proportional system is a fine tool for the regime - opposition parties being weakened by trials or simply not registered, while Nur-Otan mega-party enjoying full administrative resource. President now appoints 1/3 of the Senate and even a part of lower chamber. “A Prime Minister will now be appointed only with the approval of the majority of the Majilis” - yes, but this is in essence the same procedure as before! “Deputies will now need only a simple majority for a vote of no confidence” - yes, but the president can now dissolve the parliament solely at his personal will. “Two thirds of the Constitutional Council, the Central Election Commission and the Accounting Committee will now be appointed by the Parliament” - until recently it was the authority of the speakers of two chambers. With party lists vote, it can be done by the chambers themselves.