Kazak Parliament to Grow?
Kazak Parliament to Grow?
A proposal to increase the size of Kazakstan’s legislature and give it more powers will be ineffective without more thorough-going parliamentary reforms, say country analysts.
A working group from the State Commission on Democratisation has proposed changes to the current parliamentary system, to almost double the number of seats in the lower chamber, the Majilis, from 77 to 134. Half of these would be filled from party lists, and the other half elected in single-seat constituencies, as opposed to the present system where only 10 deputies are drawn from party lists.
The Senate, or upper house, would be increased from 39 to 68 seats under the commission’s proposals.
Changing the way the lower house is elected could help develop the country’s political parties, observers say.
If the commission’s proposals are adopted, parliament will also gain additional powers to draft and amend the government budget and monitor spending. Commission members maintain this would cut down on corruption.
However, analysts to whom NBCentralAsia has talked say the proposed innovations will not bring about the desired results until the government undertakes a full-blown parliamentary reform. Ideally, this would involve giving the parliament more powers than just budgetary discretion, and moving to a unicameral legislature.
Experts note how hard it would be to grant parliament greater powers given the strong presidential system that is in place. Parliament will thus be able to achieve its potential only if its role is radically strengthened and its members become less dependent on the president’s administration.
Such a reform would also mean abolishing the Senate rather than increasing its size, analysts argue. Under the current system, the Senate serves to block legislation that has been approved by the Majilis. A senate may be necessary in a federal system, these experts say, but not in a unitary state like Kazakstan.
(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)
A working group from the State Commission on Democratisation has proposed changes to the current parliamentary system, to almost double the number of seats in the lower chamber, the Majilis, from 77 to 134. Half of these would be filled from party lists, and the other half elected in single-seat constituencies, as opposed to the present system where only 10 deputies are drawn from party lists.
The Senate, or upper house, would be increased from 39 to 68 seats under the commission’s proposals.
Changing the way the lower house is elected could help develop the country’s political parties, observers say.
If the commission’s proposals are adopted, parliament will also gain additional powers to draft and amend the government budget and monitor spending. Commission members maintain this would cut down on corruption.
However, analysts to whom NBCentralAsia has talked say the proposed innovations will not bring about the desired results until the government undertakes a full-blown parliamentary reform. Ideally, this would involve giving the parliament more powers than just budgetary discretion, and moving to a unicameral legislature.
Experts note how hard it would be to grant parliament greater powers given the strong presidential system that is in place. Parliament will thus be able to achieve its potential only if its role is radically strengthened and its members become less dependent on the president’s administration.
Such a reform would also mean abolishing the Senate rather than increasing its size, analysts argue. Under the current system, the Senate serves to block legislation that has been approved by the Majilis. A senate may be necessary in a federal system, these experts say, but not in a unitary state like Kazakstan.
(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)
