Socialist in Name, Conservative in Nature

Читайте этот материал на русском. On June 30, both chambers of Kazakhstan’s Parliament convened for the final time before a constitutional overhaul abolishes the three-decade-old two-chamber system.When deputies meet again, the Senate and the Majilis will give way to a new, singular body: the Kurultai.Alongside structural changes, the new parliament will be a markedly more conservative one than that which met after the country’s last election.Over the past three years, deputies pushed through numerous controversial bills, including measures to kill unclaimed stray dogs and a bill restricting LGBTQ+ expression in the media and online, framed by its proponents as protecting “traditional values.” Those elected insist that their primary focus was on social issues.Reductions in regional inequality, increases in social housing and extending palliative care to children have all been cited as evidence of this agenda.But experts who spoke to Vlast take a different view, arguing that lawmakers have steadily followed the president’s ideological line as it moves in a conservative direction.Neither do they expect that to change once the Kurultai is in place.Parliament, they say, will remain bound by what the president permits, with its primary function being the consolidation of the regime’s stability rather than the exercise of independent legislative will.The Latest Political scientist Madi Omarov describes the latest cohort – the eighth assembly – which first sat on 29 March 2023, as substantially different from its predecessors.For the first time, six parties were represented in parliament, including the ruling Amanat party’s primary opposition the Nationwide Social Democratic Party (OSDP), alongside a cohort of independent deputies.On paper, it was the most pluralist delegation Kazakhstan had seen.