Kazakhstan to hold early elections in lower house of parliament
ASTANA. Jan 20 (Interfax) - Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev has dissolved the fifth Majilis of the parliament by his decree, the presidential press service said on Wednesday.
Early elections of lawmakers to the lower house of parliament, who are elected on party lists, are set for March 20, 2016.
Early elections of Majilis lawmakers, who are elected by the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan, are set for March 21, 2016.
The Central Elections Commission is instructed to arrange the preparations and the holding of early elections. The government, the akims, who are local chief executives in the cities of Astana and Almaty and regions are ordered to take all urgent necessary measures for organizational, material-technical and financial provision of early elections, the press service said in a statement.
Last week, representatives of all three parliamentary factions, namely Nur Otan, Ak zhol and the Kazakh Communist People's Party, put forward an initiative to dissolve the Majilis ahead of time and announce new elections. Majilis lawmakers later have unanimously supported the initiative for Majilis dissolution at a plenary meeting of the lower house and have sent the relevant address to the head of state.
The president took this decision after consultations with the chairpersons of both houses of parliament, Prime Minister Karim Masimov and the chairman of the Constitutional Council.
The Kazakh parliament is the supreme legislative body of the republic, which performs lawmaking functions. The parliament consists of two houses: the Senate and the Majilis, which act on a permanent basis.
The Majilis comprises 107 lawmakers. As many as 98 lawmakers are elected on party lists, the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan delegates nine deputies to the Majilis.
The previous Majilis elections were held in January 2012. Seven parties ran in the elections; three of them cleared the 7% election hurdle and were elected to the Majilis. The Nur Otan ruling party gained 83 seats in the Majilis, the Ak zhol party eight seats and the Kazakh Communist People's Party seven seats.
