Voters in Kazakhstan went to the polls on Saturday to choose members of the country\u2019s first parliamentary election under a new system that created a unicameral parliament after the adoption of a fresh constitution.<\/p>\n
Some 12.6 million eligible voters, out of a population of about 20 million, were able to cast ballots in an election contested by seven parties.<\/p>\n
Kazakhstan approved a new constitution in March that abolished the Senate in favour of a unicameral parliament known as the \u201cKurultai,\u201d a historical term once used in medieval times for political and military tribal councils in Central Asia.<\/p>\n
Officials say the change gives parliament greater weight in decision-making, after previously playing a secondary role in a system where power was concentrated in the presidency.<\/p>\n
The move is part of a broader restructuring of Kazakhstan\u2019s constitutional institutions aimed at expanding the legislature\u2019s powers and increasing its role in political decision-making.<\/p>\n
Analysts say the election is the first real test of the new parliamentary model after years of strong presidential dominance.<\/p>\n
The election is part of a reform programme launched by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev under the banner of \u201cJust Kazakhstan,\u201d following the unrest that hit the country in 2022.<\/p>\n
The unrest erupted after protests over rising living costs and left 238 people dead, prompting the authorities to announce wider political and constitutional reforms.<\/p>\n
The government hopes the constitutional changes and the new election will help calm the domestic scene and strengthen political stability, while giving legislative institutions a bigger role in shaping policy.<\/p>\n
The shifts also come as Astana seeks to present a more open political image after years of criticism over concentrated power.<\/p>\n
Kazakhstan\u2019s first parliamentary election marks an important step in the country\u2019s post-2022 political reform process, with a unicameral parliament now giving the legislature a wider role. As attention turns to the outcome, the ability of the new system to balance power remains under close watch at home and abroad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Voters in Kazakhstan went to the polls on Saturday to choose members of the country\u2019s first parliamentary election under a new system that created a unicameral parliament after the adoption of a fresh constitution. Some 12.6 million eligible voters, out of a population of about 20 million, were able to cast ballots in an election […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36245,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"subtitle":"","format":"standard","override":[{"template":"7","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"left-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"topbottom","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"1","show_post_related":"0","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"jnews_post_split":{"post_split":[{"template":"1","tag":"h2","numbering":"asc","mode":"normal","first":"0","enable_toc":"0","toc_type":"normal"}]},"footnotes":""},"categories":[80],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36243"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36243\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36247,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36243\/revisions\/36247"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}