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Kazakhstan: President
built 630 days ago
Kazakhstan is a constitutional republic. The president is the head of state. The president ... is the commander in chief of the armed forces and may veto legislation that has been passed by the Parliament. The prime minister chairs the Cabinet of Ministers and serves as Kazakhstan's head of government. There are three deputy prime ministers and 16 ministers in the Cabinet. Karim Masimov has served as the Prime Minister since 10 January 2007.
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[A]s its economic outlook blossoms, Kazakhstan's scarce democratic principles continue to wither. In the past several years, the president has harassed the independent media, arrested opposition leaders, and passed a law making it virtually impossible for new political parties to form. In Dec. 2005, President Nazarbayev was reelected with 91% of the vote. In May 2007, Parliament voted to do away with term limits... allowing President Nazarbayev to remain in office indefinitely. In June, Nazarbayev dissolved parliament and called for elections in August, two years ahead of schedule. The opposition complained that the move did not give them adequate time to campaign.
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The Parliament of Kazakhstan is bicameral and consists of the Lower House (Majilis) and the Upper House (Senate). On 16 May 2007, President Nazarbayev presented a set of constitutional amendments to a joint session of the Senate and Majilis. These amendments, based on recommendations drawn up by the State Commission of Democracy, were approved and include increasing the size of the Majilis to 107 and the number of Senators to 47.
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Kazakhstan is seeking the rotating chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in 2009. The decision will need to be made by the 55-member organization, which includes the U.S., by December 2006. At the news conference, Clinton noted: "My wife visited your country when I was President and told me a lot about the visit." The then First Lady Hillary Clinton visited Kazakhstan in 1996. While in Almaty, Clinton ... met representatives of the Kazakh opposition.
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In March 2005 several of the opposition groups united to form a pre-electoral bloc called For a Just Kazakhstan movement (FJK). The movement was led by former Majilis Speaker Zharmakhan Tuyakbai. He resigned as speaker in November 2004 in protest at what he saw as the manipulation of the September 2004 parliamentary elections. In the December 2005 presidential elections, Tuyakbai received 6.61% of the votes.
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