Opinion: Kazakhstan came to third cycle of Constitutional reforms
"Theoretically, the political process develops cycle-wise. We have passed another cycle of political development of Kazakhstan. Our constitutional process has its own history - it is not the first time amendments are made to the Constitution", he said in the interview.
The scientist reminded that the first amendments were made in 1998 for democratization of the political system. Those amendments allowed parties to participate in Mazhilis elections. However there were only 10 seats allocated. Nevertheless, it was a step towards democratization. In 2007 there was adopted a new, more fundamental set of amendments to the Constitution. There was introduced a totally proportional system of Mazhilis elections. Since then Mazhilis is formed per party lists, and proposes its candidates of the Assembly of the Peoples of Kazakhstan.
Yurii Buluktayev noted that each cycle of the Constitutional reform in Kazakhstan takes about 10 years. Now the Head of State has announced a new stage of the country's development. This decision has made it necessary to make a new set of amendments to the Constitution aimed at redistribution of authority and functions among the branches of governance. This decision is associated not only with democratization - Kazakhstan is entering the new phase of its development. The Message of the President is of economic nature but it coincides with the constitutional reform.
According to the expert, the reform does not affect the fundaments of the constitutional system and political regime. After the discussion on February 26 the amendments will be prepared and proposed to the Parliament.
