Parliamentary election in Kazakhstan 1995

The parliamentary elections in Kazakhstan in 1995 took place on December 9, 1995 with a runoff on December 23 . The 67 members of the Mäschilis , the lower house of the Kazakh parliament, were elected.

Electoral system

The electoral system was fundamentally changed by the adoption of the new constitution by the constitutional referendum in Kazakhstan in 1995 . The parliament was transformed into a bicameral system with the Senate as the upper house and the Mäschilis as the lower house. The number of MPs fell from 177 after the parliamentary elections in Kazakhstan in 1994 to a total of 114 MPs in both houses of parliament, 67 of them in the lower house. The MPs in the lower house were elected by majority vote in 67 constituencies nationwide , with an absolute majoritywas necessary for entry into parliament. If none of the candidates achieved more than 50% of the votes cast, a runoff election was held in the constituency between the two most successful candidates in the first ballot. The elected parliament had a term of office of four years and a participation rate of at least 50% was necessary for the election to be valid .

background

After the parliamentary elections in 1994 there were considerable political upheavals in Kazakhstan. The parliament was extremely critical of President Nursultan Nazarbayev and became a threat to his authoritarian claim to power. As early as May 1994, there was a majority among MPs in favor of a possible vote of no confidence in the President. As a result, the President and the government increased pressure on Parliament. In March 1995 the Constitutional Court of Kazakhstan finally decided that the parliamentary elections in Kazakhstan in 1994 were invalid and the resulting parliament thus illegal. Based on this ruling, President Nazarbayev dissolved parliament against the opposition of the majority of MPs and ruled from March to December 1995 by decree without parliamentary control . He strengthened his position of power only through changes to the existing constitution and finally in August 1995 through the introduction of a new constitution that grants the president more rights and competencies. For December 9, 1995, Nazarbayev scheduled the next parliamentary elections, but weakened the role of parliament in the month of the election by a further decree that gave the president the opportunity to call parliamentary elections at any time and to override existing laws. The policy of strengthening the presidential office in 1995 was accompanied by repressive crackdown on the opposition. This was fought in the run-up to the constitutional referendum in August 1995 to such an extent that there was hardly any criticism of the President's actions. For this purpose, restrictions on freedom of assembly and freedom of expression were used , but also the integration of leading opposition politicians into the state apparatus, for example through high-ranking ambassadorial posts abroad.

Parties and candidates

President Nazarbayev's measures in 1995 were aimed at weakening parliament and preventing parliament from jeopardizing its power, similar to the situation in 1994. The registration of parties and candidates by the electoral authorities was also used as a means of combating the opposition, as the registration process was made significantly more difficult for opposition politicians and parties. The most important party in Kazakhstan at the time of the election was the Union of National Unity, President Nazarbayev's party. This had already become the strongest faction in the Kazakh parliament in the 1994 election. The Democratic Party, which was founded in 1995 and also supported the president and his course, was also important. In addition to these two large parties, there were numerous smaller parties that supported the president and his course, and numerous supporters of Nazarbayev ran as independent candidates. On the part of the opposition, the People's Congress of Kazakhstan was the most important party after it was able to move into the Kazakh parliament as the third largest faction in 1994. The Communist Party of Kazakhstan was also classified as oppositional. Other opposition parties boycotted the election because of the restriction of basic rights and the hindrance of opposition work.

Result

The information regarding the result of the election varies greatly depending on the source. The reason for these discrepancies was the poor distinction between candidates from individual parties and independent candidates within the pro-presidential camp, which led to different statements regarding the strength of the factions of pro-presidential parties and the number of independent members of parliament. According to the Inter-Parliamentary Union , the composition of the Mäschilis was as follows:

Political party	Mandates
Union of national unity	11
Democratic Party	7th
Communist Party of Kazakhstan	2
Socialist Party of Kazakhstan	1
Kazakhstan's Cooperation Party	1
People's Congress of Kazakhstan	1
Independent	44
total	67

The turnout was given as 80.73% in the first ballot and 76.15% in the second ballot. Despite the divergent information on the exact composition of the parliament, observers agreed that there was a clear majority in the newly elected parliament in favor of President Nazarbayev and his policies. By strengthening the rights of the president by introducing a new constitution and electing a new parliament to the detriment of the previously strongly represented opposition, the latter was able to significantly strengthen his position in 1995 and lay the foundation for a long-term presidency. Parliament met for the first time on January 30, 1996. Äkeschan Qaschygeldin , who had held this post since 1994, was confirmed in the office of Prime Minister .

rating

President Nazarbayev's approach and the 1995 parliamentary elections met with criticism, particularly abroad. Observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe noted numerous irregularities on election day, including numerous cases of multiple votes. In addition, the OSCE observers questioned the official turnout and assumed a lower turnout. Even Human Rights Watch criticized the operations in a report on the post-Soviet development of Kazakhstan, it was particularly drawn attention to the restriction of fundamental rights and the increasingly authoritarian style of government of the president. The Kazakh opposition had been weakened considerably in the course of 1995 and after the parliamentary elections in 1995 it was no longer able to assume the active political function that led to its dissolution in 1994. President Nazarbayev himself justified his approach with the thesis that European systems would not work in the Eurasian expanses.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ LIPortal - the country information portal History & State. Retrieved May 2, 2020 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b} KAZAKHSTAN. Retrieved May 2, 2020 . 
3. ↑ Официальный сайт Парламента Республики Казахстан. Retrieved May 2, 2020 . 
4. ↑ MAKHMETOV, AIDAR .: THE APPLICATION OF RULING TECHNIQUES IN KAZAKHSTAN . VS Verlag FUR SOZIALWISSENSCHAFTEN, 2020, ISBN 978-3-658-28647-7 , p. 85 .
5. ^ Andreas Heinrich: The Formal Political System in Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. A background study . Ed .: Research Center for Eastern Europe Bremen. No. 107 . Bremen March 2010.
6. ↑ ^{a b} KAZAKHSTAN: parliamentary elections Mazhilis, 1995. Retrieved May 2, 2020 . 
7. ^ Central Asia-Caucasus Institute and Silk Road Studies Program .: Parliament and political parties in Kazakhstan . Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Program, Washington, DC 2008, ISBN 978-91-85937-27-1 , pp. 12 ff .