KZBlog

Yesterday Parliament approved and the President signed a new law “On Parliament” which basically clarifies some points regarding the new constitutional amendments and how they will be carried out.

Parliament will be dissolvedand a new Parliament elected. Under the new system, each party will publish its list of proposed members of Parliament, but the people will vote for parties, not for individuals. The justification of this new system is that parties will be forced to serve the wishes of the people and become an important part of civil society in Kazakhstan. In fact, with the current majority held by Nurotan, there is almost no question that Nurotan will maintain, if not increase, its almost 100% hold on Parliament.

It is also rumored that the government will step down, because the new amendments give Parliament the right to approve Ministers. Therefore for the country to be in line with the new amendments, the ministers will go. There is a question of whether this will be a formality or not, since the government changed and a new PM was appointed only 5 months ago.

Thanks to Registan for providing some of the latest news and the following links. In the wake of the announcement that two opposition parties, Nagyz Ak Zhol and the Social Democratic Party would form an electoral block, in order to garner more votes under the new Parliamentary election system, the new law “On Parliament” outlaws electoral blocks. Coincidence? It is hard not to share Nathan’s cyncisim:

It would appear that cooperation with one another is not the kind of strength the reforms seek to encourage.