4 May 2022 21:34

Clauses on powers and status of Kazakhstan's 1st president to be dropped from Constitution

NUR-SULTAN. May 4 (Interfax) - The Constitutional Council of Kazakhstan has been asked to remove the constitutional clauses regarding the status of the first president, whose historical role is widely known and thus need not be separately enshrined in the country's Fundamental Law, Kazakhstan's Secretary of State Yerlan Karin said.

"Today the Constitutional Council gave a positive conclusion on the draft amendments to our country's Constitution (...). Also, considering the proposal by several members of the working group, the Constitutional Council was sent an additional request for the clause concerning the status of the first president to be removed," Karin stated on Telegram.

"In the opinion of the members of the working group, the historical role of the first president is commonly known and does not require separate enshrinement in the Constitution," he said.

For his part, Marat Bashimov, a member of the working group tasked with drafting the constitutional amendments, said the public had supported almost all points of the constitutional reform, including removing the clauses concerning the first president.

"There is keen and constructive public debate of the constitutional reform initiated by the head of state. And in the process of the debate the public backed practically all points of the constitutional reform, including the amendments removing separate clauses from the constitution concerning the first president of the Republic of Kazakhstan. These are the clauses about the first president's right to get elected more than two times in a row and about his status and powers being determined by the Constitution and the constitutional act," Bashimov said on social media.

At the same time, a "very serious public polemic has been raised by the remaining Article 91 clause about the invariable status of the first president as Founder of independent Kazakhstan.

"This is why some members of the working group which drafted the constitutional amendments sent the head of state a proposal that the reference to the first president's historical role be removed from the Fundamental Law because it has no legal bearing," Bashimov said.

"In view of the opinion of the members of the working group, the Constitutional Council was sent an additional request. Following a final sitting, the Council was decided on the constitutionality of the draft amendments to the Constitution," he said.

"Therefore, according to the draft amendments, all clauses about the first president, his status and powers, will be entirely excluded from the Constitution," Bashimov said.

It was reported that the planned amendments were to spell out the status of first president Nursultan Nazarbayev as being the Founder of independent Kazakhstan. At the same time, the current constitutional act "On the first president of the Republic of Kazakhstan" determines, among other things, the politico-legal status, prerogatives and guarantees of the first president after leaving office.