Kazakhstan Local Politics - The Times Of Central Asia

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Kazakhstan's Parliament

Kurultai Election Campaign Takes Shape in Parliament’s Final Budget Debate

Kazakhstan's outgoing parliament spent one of its final sessions debating the government's management of the 2025 budget, in what often resembled a dress rehearsal for the country's first Kurultai election campaign. On July 1, Kazakhstan’s new constitution will enter into force, replacing the current Senate and Mazhilis with a single-chamber Kurultai. The new legislature will have 145 deputies elected through party lists, and elections are expected in August. No current deputy will transfer automatically into the new chamber. Those who want to remain in national politics will need a place on a party list and a fresh mandate. That gave the June 26 session an unusual political significance: would any outgoing deputies use the budget debate to make a final public break with the government? Some did put pointed questions to Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov and Finance Minister Madi Takiyev as parliament reviewed and approved the reports of the government and the Supreme Audit Chamber on the execution of the republican budget for 2025. Finance Minister Madi Takiyev presented the figures in optimistic terms. According to him, Kazakhstan’s economy grew by 6.5% in 2025, while GDP increased by $14.7 billion in dollar terms. Meanwhile, public debt remains low at around 22.8% of GDP, or approximately $74.5 billion. Deputies asked Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov why, despite GDP growth of 6.5%, Kazakh citizens’ incomes had declined. Bektenov referred to high inflation, which has been eating into household incomes. “Last year, inflation peaked in September at 12.9%. Now, as a result of measures taken by the government, the National Bank and other interested agencies, inflation over the first five months of this year has declined to 10.4%,” the prime minister said. He recalled that the government had adopted a separate plan to raise household incomes. According to the government, the average monthly wage reached 442,000 tenge, about $910. He said there were already sectors, such as agriculture and transport, where real incomes had increased. Mazhilis deputy Azat Peruashev, who recently stepped down after 15 years as chairman of the Ak Zhol party but still heads its parliamentary faction, focused on the National Fund. He said the government had failed to keep an earlier promise to reduce withdrawals. “When approving the draft budget for 2024-2026, the government announced a plan to reduce withdrawals from the National Fund starting in 2025. In fact, the volume of funds received from the National Fund in 2025 remained high, at approximately $10.8 billion,” he said. The National Fund is one of the most politically sensitive parts of Kazakhstan’s public finances. Built largely from oil and gas revenue and managed through the National Bank, it is meant to serve two functions: to help stabilize the budget when commodity revenue falls, and to preserve part of the country’s resource wealth for future generations. Heavy withdrawals therefore carry a political cost. They can help cover current spending, but they also reduce the savings Kazakhstan has accumulated from its oil wealth, making the size of annual transfers a perennial political argument. Peruashev...

Healthcare

Tokayev Says Kazakhstan Offers Healthcare Benefits Unavailable in Some Western Countries

Kazakhstan provides its citizens with a range of social guarantees that, according to President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, are unavailable even in some of the world’s most developed countries. Tokayev made the remarks during an awards ceremony for healthcare workers ahead of their professional holiday. Kazakhstan marks Medical Workers’ Day annually on the third Sunday of June, which falls on June 21 this year. Speaking at the ceremony, Tokayev said Kazakhstan remains a social state and that fulfilling social obligations is a constitutional responsibility of all branches of government. He noted that more than 9 trillion tenge, or almost $18 billion, was allocated from the national budget for social spending last year alone. “The implementation of the Guaranteed Volume of Free Medical Care Program is also a constitutional obligation. This is a unique program with no equivalent abroad, at least in terms of the scale of free medical services provided,” Tokayev said. He also pointed to maternity benefits as another example. “Women in Kazakhstan receive three years of maternity leave with payments and job security. These are unique conditions for young mothers. I worked in the West, particularly in Switzerland, and studied their system. Such arrangements do not exist there or in other Western countries,” he said. Tokayev added that Kazakhstan is developing as a regional center for medical tourism, citing high treatment standards and competitive pricing. Earlier this month, Tourism and Sports Minister Yerbol Myrzabosynov reported that about 80,000 foreign patients had received medical care in Kazakhstan. Tokayev linked much of the sector’s progress to accelerated digitalization in healthcare. “Kazakhstan has actively begun introducing advanced technologies across all sectors, including medicine. This has given a new impulse to the development of our healthcare system,” he said. According to the president, the use of digital technologies has reduced diagnostic times by four times and increased the detection rate of malignant tumors by 30%. Artificial intelligence tools are now assisting doctors in making complex clinical decisions. More than 1,800 medical institutions across the country have switched to digital systems, while the integration of healthcare information platforms has reduced administrative costs by up to 40%, he said. Tokayev also highlighted the government’s efforts to improve the social standing of healthcare workers. He said state support for medical professionals has increased seven times over the past three years, with wages rising gradually. This year, Kazakhstan allocated 33 billion tenge, or about $67.4 million, for salary increases and additional support measures. “These initiatives have helped stabilize the staffing of the healthcare system,” Tokayev said. “New specialized scientific institutes, multidisciplinary hospitals, modern clinics, and perinatal centers are being launched in the capital and the regions. The government must now carry out a large-scale renovation of the entire healthcare infrastructure and modernize its material and technical base.” As previously reported by The Times of Central Asia, Kazakhstan opened Central Asia’s first Brain Research Institute this summer. Tokayev also announced last autumn that science cities would be established in Almaty and Kurchatov, with nuclear medicine among the planned research...

Political Parties

Kazakhstan’s Party System Faces Its First Kurultai Test

Kazakhstan’s shift to a unicameral, party-list Kurultai is meant to strengthen political parties. But the ruling Amanat party’s June 12 vote to join the newly created Adilet party, followed by Adilet delegates’ approval on June 14, shows the first test of the new system will show whether the new party-list model broadens competition or mainly reorganizes the pro-presidential camp before the vote. Why Parties Matter Now On July 1, 2026, Kazakhstan’s new Constitution enters into force, abolishing the bicameral parliament and replacing it with a unicameral Kurultai of 145 deputies elected exclusively through party lists for a five-year term. The new basic law was approved in a referendum on March 15, 2026. According to the Central Election Commission, it was supported by 87.15% of voters, with turnout at 73.12%. More than 80% of the text of the 1995 Constitution was rewritten. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has said elections to the new Kurultai will take place in August 2026. That makes Kazakhstan’s political parties especially important to watch: for the first time since 2004, key parliamentary players could change substantially. But the early signal is mixed: formal rules strengthen parties as electoral institutions, while the merger of pro-presidential forces consolidates the dominant camp’s organizational advantages. How the Party System Works Kazakhstan is a presidential republic in which parties operate under the Law “On Political Parties.” Until 2022, registering a party required at least 1,000 initiators and at least 20,000 members. After political reforms announced by Tokayev on March 16, 2022, the minimum number of initiators was reduced to 700, while the membership threshold was lowered to 5,000. The minimum size of regional branches was also reduced from 600 to 200 people, and the period allowed for forming branches was extended from six months to one year. In 2023, 98 deputies were elected to the Mazhilis, the lower house of parliament: 69 through party lists and 29 in single-mandate constituencies. The threshold for party lists was lowered from 7% to 5%. Under the new Constitution, single-mandate constituencies are abolished at the national level, and all 145 deputies of the Kurultai will be elected through party lists. Without single-mandate districts, independent political figures will need party access to enter national politics. Parties also take part in elections to maslikhats, local representative bodies at district, city, and regional levels. Those elections were held simultaneously with parliamentary elections on March 19, 2023. Eight Parties: The Current Landscape As of June 2026, before the Amanat-Adilet merger process is completed, Kazakhstan has eight officially registered political parties, the highest number in two decades. Six are represented in the current Mazhilis: Amanat, Auyl, Respublica, Ak Zhol, the People’s Party of Kazakhstan, and the Nationwide Social Democratic Party. The seventh, the environmental party Baitaq, was registered on November 30, 2022, as Kazakhstan’s first “green” party. It failed to clear the 5% threshold in the 2023 elections, receiving 2.30% of the vote. The eighth, Adilet, was registered by the Ministry of Justice on June 1, 2026. It is headed by Aibek...

Adilet Party

Fraudsters Attempt to Exploit Kazakhstan’s Adilet Party Name

Kazakhstan’s pro-presidential Adilet party says fake online accounts are unlawfully using its name to mislead citizens with offers of party membership cards as it prepares to merge with the ruling Amanat party. On June 12, Astana hosted Amanat’s 26th congress, where delegates voted in favor of the merger. For Adilet, joining Amanat would provide access to the ruling party’s nationwide branch network and large membership base. For Amanat, the merger is expected to help the party move beyond a political brand still closely associated with former President Nursultan Nazarbayev. Adilet, whose name translates as “Justice,” held its founding congress on May 7 and was officially registered by Kazakhstan’s Justice Ministry on June 1. Earlier this week, the party held its second congress, where delegates formally approved the merger with Amanat. Adilet has since reported a rise in fraudulent activity. According to the party, fake social media accounts and pages have appeared online, illegally using its name and posing as official representatives. “These resources are spreading false information about issuing party cards, registering members, and the party’s activities in general,” Adilet said in an official statement published on its website. “We officially declare that these accounts have no connection to the Adilet party. Any information distributed through them is false.” The party urged citizens to rely only on its official social media and website channels. It warned that the unauthorized use of the party’s name and symbols, as well as the dissemination of false information, may lead to legal liability under Kazakh law. Adilet said materials related to the fake accounts had been handed over to law enforcement authorities for further action. “We ask citizens not to share personal data with unknown individuals and to use only the party’s official communication channels,” the statement said.

Kazakhstan's Parliament

Amanat Adilet Merger as Kazakhstan Prepares for New Parliament

Kazakhstan’s long-dominant Amanat party has voted to merge into the newly formed pro-presidential Adilet party, transferring the machinery of the country’s ruling political force into a new vehicle more closely associated with President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. The move gives Adilet the campaign infrastructure and nationwide network of officials and activists that it lacked as a newly registered party. For Amanat, it offers a way to move beyond a political brand still closely associated with former President Nursultan Nazarbayev. Amanat held a congress in Astana on June 12 that is likely to be remembered as the final meeting of a political organization whose history spans a quarter of a century. For most of that period, the party was known as Nur Otan, the ruling party built around Nazarbayev and chaired by him for much of its existence. The rebrand followed the chaos of January 2022, officially referred to in Kazakhstan as the January Events, when protests triggered by fuel price rises grew into the most serious political crisis in the country’s post-Soviet history. The violence weakened Nazarbayev’s remaining influence and accelerated Tokayev’s effort to distance the political system from the Nazarbayev era. It also made Nur Otan’s association with the former president a political liability. Tokayev took over Nur Otan from Nazarbayev in January 2022. Two months later, the party was renamed Amanat. Tokayev stepped down from the party leadership in April, after Kazakhstan amended its legislation to prohibit the president from being a member of any political party. Since then, Amanat has been led by Yerlan Koshanov, an experienced official and Tokayev ally. At the congress, Koshanov acknowledged that the 2022 name change had failed to remove the party’s association with the previous political era. “Let us be frank,” he said. “Certain associations and assessments related to the party’s past still remain in public consciousness.” Amanat remains politically useful: it has the organization needed to contest elections. But its connection to Nazarbayev’s era sits uneasily with Tokayev’s attempts to present his presidency as a break with the old system. Koshanov told delegates that the country needed “new points of unity” rather than new divisions, and said Amanat should combine its resources with Adilet as part of a single pro-presidential force. Delegates unanimously approved the decision to join Adilet. New Kid On The Block Adilet, meaning “justice,” is a very new party. As previously reported by The Times of Central Asia, it held its founding congress on May 7 and was officially registered by Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Justice on June 1. Its chairman is Aibek Dadebay, a former head of Tokayev’s presidential administration. The party presents itself as a pro-presidential force built around the language of responsibility and reform. On June 14, Adilet held its second congress. Party leader Aibek Dadebay, addressing participants, proposed voting in favor of Amanat joining Adilet, describing it as a decision based on national responsibility and broader state interests rather than narrow party calculations. Delegates approved the merger, confirming that Adilet is less the creation of an...

Political Parties

Kazakhstan’s Party Landscape Enters a Decisive Week

Kazakhstan’s party system may be approaching one of its most consequential turning points in years. With Amanat scheduled to hold a party congress on June 12 and the newly registered Adilet party planning its own gathering on June 14, speculation is growing that the country’s dominant political organization could be reshaped, merged, or rebranded ahead of elections to the new unicameral Kurultai. The immediate question is whether Amanat, the successor to the party originally created around Kazakhstan’s first president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, will remain the major pro-presidential force or whether its extensive organizational resources will be drawn into Adilet, a new party aligned with President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s political agenda and reform program. For now, no merger has been officially announced, but the timing of the two congresses has made the possibility central to Kazakhstan’s political debate. Adilet held its founding congress on May 7, and was officially registered by the Ministry of Justice on June 1. It is led by Aibek Dadebay, the former head of Tokayev’s administration, and presents itself as a pro-presidential force built around the language of justice, responsibility, and reform. Its emergence adds an eighth officially registered party to Kazakhstan’s system, but its political importance lies less in the number of parties than in the possibility that it could become the new vehicle for the president’s loyalist coalition. That makes Adilet’s appearance significant in a regional context. For many years, Kyrgyzstan was often regarded as Central Asia’s most advanced state in terms of party development and political pluralism. Today, however, Kazakhstan has become a more influential reference point for party-building, one that is attracting attention in Tashkent and Dushanbe, while Kyrgyzstan has largely moved away from party-centered politics. Kazakhstan has developed a multi-party model in which several major political organizations are represented in parliament. The system seeks to balance the interests of the state with those of various social groups and constituencies. Individual elements of this model can be adjusted or transformed as political demands evolve. For example, as public nostalgia for communism began to fade, the Communist People’s Party of Kazakhstan quietly dropped the word “Communist” from its public identity. Ironically, when the party was originally established, the word “People’s” had been added to distinguish it from the Communist Party of Kazakhstan, from which many of its founders had emerged. Through such splits, mergers, and rebrandings, Kazakhstan has gradually constructed a party system that encompasses organizations representing a broad spectrum of society, from state officials and business interests to rural communities. In both Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, five political parties are officially registered. Their political spectrum broadly mirrors that of Kazakhstan: a dominant ruling party, a socialist or communist party, and organizations positioning themselves as democratic, people’s, agrarian, or environmental movements. Kyrgyzstan, by contrast, has taken a markedly different path. In 2025, the country completed its transition from a party-centered political system to one in which parties play a secondary role. Elections to the Jogorku Kenesh are now conducted primarily through a majoritarian model that emphasizes individual...