77 per cent of voting Kazakhstanis at the referendum voted for amending the Constitution. However, experts doubt that there would be major changes for the better.
On June 5, Kazakhstan held a referendum on amending the Constitution. Citizens were proposed to support or deny 56 amendments in 33 articles of the basic law, which is almost one third of the document.
The amendments are aimed at redistribution of powers from the president to the parliament, at prohibition of the death penalty, strengthening of other branches of power, and enhancement of the role of citizens in the process of government of the state.
One of the key amendments was the exclusion of the article from the Constitution dedicated to the first president of the republic Nursultan Nazarbayev. According to the amendment, he will be deprived of most of personal privileges and status of “elbasy” or “leader of nation”. Nevertheless, the article on immunity of all family member of Nursultan Nazarbayev and their lifetime support at the budget cost (article 46, Constitution of Kazakhstan) remained unchanged.
According to the amendments, the country shifts from the super-presidential government to the presidential republic.
According to final data of the Central Election Commission, 77.18 per cent of Kazakhstanis voted for the amendments to the constitution. The voting turnout was 68.05 per cent.
Resident of Kostanai Abzal Salykov said that he came to the referendum because he was worried about the country’s future.
“We all want to build new Kazakhstan because everyone is tired of the old one. I wanted to vote for each amendment separately. Unfortunately, there were only two options on the ballot “yes” or “no”. In other words, you either agree with all amendments or not. In any case, it is some progress. I like that we can now remove any deputy from office who fell short of citizens’ hopes,” he said.
This is the third referendum in the history of sovereign Kazakhstan. The previous two were held in 1995. Back then, citizens were offered to vote for prolongation of presidential powers of Nursultan Nazarbayev and for adoption of the current Constitution. Afterwards, the basic law was amended five more times with the consent of the country’s parliament.
Karaganda resident Karlygash Muratova is 90 years old. She is the former party worker, took part in the 1995 referendums and voted for prolongation of powers of Nazarbayev. She could not miss this referendum.
“I have suffered a major surgery, I can barely move my feet. But I couldn’t miss the referendum because all these changes are important for the country. Here, in Kazakhstan, we have so much wealth, many lands. In the last 30 years, we were unlucky to have our ex-president. All spheres were corrupt, wages were very low. I think that the amendments to the Constitution will help us build a successful state,” she said.
Advertising, constraints and hopes
The authorities of Kazakhstan did not save on the referendum advertising. Famous bloggers, pop singers and film actors urged to come and vote for amendments to the basic law. Members of parliament held almost everyday meetings with the people in support of the referendum.
“I decided not to go to the referendum because I cannot understand many things. How can we agree with all of the amendments? I don’t believe that anything will change tomorrow. Therefore, I refused to go. I don’t want to stand in queue and waste my day there. I’ve heard some polling stations were making gifts to voters, providing free food. My neighbours went to voting because of that,” Almaty-based teacher Aigul Sanzharova said.
At the same time, university students complained on social media that they were forced to attend polling stations. However, earlier the president of the country, Kasym-Zhomart Tokayev, said to journalists that no one was forced to vote at the referendum.
“I receive a government scholarship at the university in the amount of 21 thousand tenge (48.44 dollars). I did not want to attend the voting because I know that my vote won’t make any difference. I wanted to read books, but my supervisor called me personally and said that I would be deprived of my scholarship if I didn’t vote. They can easily do it just by giving me low grades. We have a common chat where everyone posts photos confirming they voted at the referendum,” a student of a university said.
The text of the draft law “On amendments and modifications to the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan” takes almost 10 pages and, according to lawyer and college instructor Sardar Kylyshbaev, is written in a complicated language for ordinary citizens to understand.
“Some members of parliament do not understand it, not to speak of ordinary citizens. They had to write it in plain language and publish it in newspapers. Everyone knows that there is still no internet in many villages and rural residents just voted for amendments without understanding what they voted for. One of my acquaintances called me from a polling station and asked what to write on the ballot,” Kylyshbaev said.
Gulnura Rakhmetova is a mother with many children based in Turkestan region. She does not know what amendments will be voted for at the referendum, yet she came to vote hoping for better tomorrow.
“I’ve decided to vote because that it the way it should be. I want my children to be happy. I don’t know what was in there, but I chose “yes”. It means that Kazakhstan will achieve great success. I believe in our president, he is a common person. I guess they will increase benefits now,” she said.
Light version of super-presidency
This referendum is a part of the president’s policy pursued under the concept of the “responding state”, which Kasym-Zhomart Tokayev announced back in 2019. However, it was slowly implemented. But, according to opposition politician Mukhtar Taizhan, the 2022 January protests made their adjustments and forced Tokayev to highlight key points in future activity.
“I know that the referendum is not the gift of the authorities to us, it is the people’s merit. In particular, the referendum was held because of the January events. If the people didn’t take to the streets in January, we would be sitting back and hoping for nothing for a longer time. Such a political reform should have begun in early 2020. But everything remained in word only. What is the need for wide advertising of amendments to the Constitution if they are useful?” Taizhan said.
Despite the fact that new amendments to the Constitution have been suggested as the retreat from autocracy and super-presidential republic, it does not weaken the president’s positions. In the interview to “Nezavisimaya Gazeta”, political analyst Kazbek Beisebaev said that the most important amendment to the Constitution refers to the parliament election on a mixed basis – by party lists and by single-member constituencies. However, the shift to the parliamentary republic is not the point.
“We had not just a super-presidential republic, but he used to have superpowers. Sitting president Kasym-Zhomart Tokayev has the same powers now. According to the Constitution, he appoints the government, heads of all agencies, head of CEC, chair of the Constitutional Court, nominates a candidate for the Senate speaker. Deputies nominate and elect only the chair of the lower house of parliament. Therefore, these amendments do not change the super-presidential form of government in no way,” Beisebaev said.
According to political analyst Dosym Satpaev, the country needs to strengthen political institutions, create independent judicial branch and democratically elected parliament. Otherwise, it is highly likely that we again return to the politics based on intra-elite struggle.
“So far, after the referendum, the super-presidential system was updated to its light version because the full system of checks and balances was not worked out. The risk is that the behind-the-scenes politics may again prevail over public policy because there will be only one key power centre around which there will be behind-the-scenes struggle,” Satpaev said.
Activist Yerzhan Saginov is also very sceptical about new amendments to the basic law and he does not believe in drastic changes.
“The whole system must be changed to change everything. All officials who committed errors should be removed from offices. No miracle will happen if we just change words in the basic law of the country. Why are Nazarbayev’s administration and library still financed if he is now deprived of his status of “elbasy”?” Saginov said.
However, some experts have more optimistic attitudes. According to political analyst Daniyar Ashimbaev, new amendments have some positive tendencies.
“The reform will create independent Constitutional Court and human rights commissioner office. The former is a supreme body of constitutional justice and protection of citizens’ rights, and the latter – although existing for over 20 years in one way or another – becomes a really independent and strong agency meant to ensure feedback between citizens and the state regarding violations of rights and discrimination,” Ashimbaev said.
Nearly 20 laws should be revised to make all amendments and modifications to the Constitution. The parliament should adopt these documents before the end of the year.