This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Politics of Kazakhstan" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(March 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Thepolitics of Kazakhstan takes place in the framework of asemi-presidentialrepublic, whereby thePresident of Kazakhstan ishead of state and nominates thehead of government.Executive power is exercised by the government.Legislative power is vested in both thegovernment and the two chambers of parliament.

Kazakhstan's independent history has been heavily shaped by Nursultan Nazarbayev, who ruled Kazakhstan from 1991 to 2019. His authoritarian regime was characterized by significanthuman rights abuses,nepotism, and systemic corruption.^{[1][2][3][4][5]} Elections and constitutional referendums were held, but they were not free and fair.^[6][7]

Image	Post	Name	Party	Term
	President	Kassym-Jomart Tokayev	Independent	20 March 2019
	Prime Minister	Oljas Bektenov	Amanat	6 February 2024

The president is elected by popular vote for afive-year term. The prime minister and first deputy prime minister are appointed by the president. Council of Ministers is also appointed by the president. President Nazarbayev expanded his presidential powers by decree: only he can initiate constitutional amendments, appoint and dismiss the government, dissolve Parliament, call referendums at his discretion, and appoint administrative heads of regions and cities.

The president is the head of state. He also is the commander in chief of the armed forces and may veto legislation that has been passed by the Parliament. PresidentNursultan Nazarbayev, who was in office since Kazakhstan became independent, won a new 7-year term in the 1999 election that theOrganization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said fell short of international standards. A major political opponent, former prime minister Akezhan Kazhegeldin, was prohibited from running against the president because he had attended an unauthorized meeting of "the movement for free elections". On top of this the election was unconstitutionally called two years ahead of schedule. Free access to the media is also denied to opposing opinions. In 2002 a law set very stringent requirements for the maintenance of legal status of a political party, which lowered the number of legal parties from 19 in 2002 to 8 in 2003. The prime minister, who serves at the pleasure of the president, 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.Bakhytzhan Sagintayev became the Prime Minister in September 2016.

Thelegislature, known asthe Parliament (Parliament), has twochambers. The Lower HouseAssembly (Mazhilis) has 107 seats, elected for a four-year term, 98 seats are from party lists, 9 - from Assembly of People. All MPs are elected for 5 years.^[8] The Upper HouseSenate has 47 members, 40 of whom are elected for six-year terms in double-seat constituencies by the local assemblies, half renewed every two years, and 7 presidential appointees. In addition, ex-presidents areex officiosenators for life.Majilis deputies and the government both have the right of legislative initiative, though most legislation considered by the Parliament is proposed by the government. Several deputies are elected from theAssembly of People of Kazakhstan.

There are 65 judges on theSupreme Court of Kazakhstan. There are seven members of the Constitutional Council. Out of the 7 members, 3 are appointed by the president.

There are local andoblast (regional) level courts, and a national-level Supreme Court. Local level courts serve as courts of first instance for less serious crimes such astheft andvandalism. Oblast level courts hear more serious criminal cases and also hear cases in rural areas where no local courts have been established.^[9] A judgment by a local court may be appealed to the oblast level. TheSupreme Court is a cassation court that hears appeals from the oblast courts.

The constitution establishes a seven-member Constitutional Council to determine the constitutionality of laws adopted by thelegislature. It also rules on challenges to elections andreferendums and interprets the constitution. The president appoints three of its members, including the chair.

Under constitutional amendments of 1998, the president appoints a chairperson of a Higher Judicial Council, which nominates judges for the Supreme Court. The Council consists of the chairperson of the Constitutional Council, the chairperson of the Supreme Court, theProsecutor General, theMinister of Justice, senators, judges, and other persons appointed by the president. The president recommends and the Senate (upper legislative chamber) approves these nominees for the Supreme Court. Oblast judges (nominated by the Higher Judicial Council) are appointed by the president. Lower level judges are appointed by the president from a list presented by the Higher Judicial Council. Under legislation approved in 2000, judges serve for life.^[10]

Earlypresidential elections were held inKazakhstan on 9 June 2019 following the resignation of long-term presidentNursultan Nazarbayev.^[11] Originally scheduled for 2020, seven candidates were registered to participate in the elections, including incumbent presidentKassym-Jomart Tokayev, who had assumed the presidency three months before the elections following the resignation of Nazarbayev. Tokayev was subsequently re-elected with 71% of the vote. His closest challenger,Amirjan Qosanov of theUlt Tagdyry party, received 16%.

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Nur Otan	6,183,757	82.20	84	+1
	Aq Jol	540,406	7.18	7	–1
	Communist People's Party	537,123	7.14	7	0
	Auyl People's Democratic Patriotic Party	151,285	2.01	0	0
	Nationwide Social Democratic Party	88,813	1.18	0	0
	Birlik	21,484	0.29	0	New
Members elected by theAssembly of People				9	0
Total		7,522,868	100.00	107	0
Valid votes		7,522,868	99.43
Invalid/blank votes		43,282	0.57
Total votes		7,566,150	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		9,810,852	77.12
Source:CEC,CEC

In 1999, Kazakhstan applied for observer status at theCouncil of Europe Parliamentary Assembly. The official response of the Assembly was that Kazakhstan could apply for full membership, because it is partially located in Europe, but that they would not be granted any status whatsoever at the Council until theirdemocracy andhuman rights records improved. Improvement in these areas has been made for in 2012, Kazakhstan was elected by United Nations members to serve on theUN Human Rights Council.^[12] Despite this, Kazakhstan is still considered to have a very poor human rights record by analysts such as The Economist Intelligence Unit.^[13]

AsDB,CIS,EAPC,EBRD,ECE,ECO,ESCAP,FAO,IAEA,IBRD,ICAO,IDA,IDB,IFAD,IFC,IFRCS (associate),ILO,IMF,IMO,Interpol,IOC,IOM,ISO,ITU,NAM (observer),NSG,OAS (observer),OIC,OPCW,OSCE,PFP,SCO,UN,UNCTAD,UNESCO,UNIDO,UPU,WCL,WFTU,WHO,WIPO,WMO,WToO,WTrO (observer)

• Government of Kazakhstan

• Junisbai, Barbara (2025).The Pitfalls of Family Rule: Patronage Norms, Family Overreach, and Political Crisis in Kazakhstan and Beyond. Cornell University Press.

• Will Kazakhstan Be Next? - On Political Developments in Kazakhstan by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
• Central Asia Commerce

• Politics of Kazakhstan
• Government of Kazakhstan

• CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN
• Webarchive template wayback links
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles needing additional references from March 2012
• All articles needing additional references