IFES Election Guide - Country Profile: Kazakhstan

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Presidential
2016
Legislative
2017

Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Region: Asia & Pacific

Description of government structure:

Chief of State: President Nursultan Abishevich NAZARBAYEV *
Head of Government: Prime Minister Serik AKHMETOV
Assembly: Kazakhstan has a bicameral Parliament consisting of the Senate with 39 seats and the House of Representatives (Mazhilis) with 107 seats.

Description of electoral system:

The President is elected by plurality vote to serve a 5-year term.*
The Prime Minister is appointed by the president with the approval of the parliament.
In the Senate, 7 members are appointed by the president to serve 6-year terms and 32 members are indirectly elected by regional legislatures to serve 6-year terms*. In the House of Representatives (Mazhilis), 98 members are elected through a closed-list proportional representation system to serve 5-year terms and 9 members are appointed to serve 5-year terms.**

* A 2007 constitutional amendment shortened the presidential term from seven years to five years. However, these changes will only take effect after NAZARBAYEV's term ends.

* In the Senate, 7 members are appointed by the president and 32 are indirectly elected by oblast-level government bodies, all to serve 6-year terms.

** The PR tier is one, nationwide district with a seven percent threshold. The remaining nine deputies are chosen by the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan, an unelected body containing 364 members formed by the President of Kazakhstan. Under the 2009 amendments to the Constitutional Law on Elections, if only one political party manages to clear the 7 percent threshold set for entrance into the Majilis, the runner-up party will also be allowed to have deputies in the chamber