Interests of Kazakhstan’s Regions Likely to Be Underrepresented in New Parliament Filled by Party List Voting Alone, Kazakh Political Scientist Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Aug. 6 -- A potentially serious problem some Kazakhstan analysts raised during the discussion of the ratification of the new constitution which replaced the bicameral legislature with a unicameral one appears to be coming true, Kazakhstan political scientist Bauryzhan Makhanov says.

            Because the reform eliminated the upper house which allocated seats on the basis of the regions and because the government has decided to conduct elections on a party-list basis rather than in single-member constituencies, he says, ever more of the deputies are likely to be from the capital than the regions, even though the voters are in that latter (spik.kz/2675-vybry-v-kurlut-golosuet-to-provinci-a-deputatami-stantic-stolichnye.htm).

            The new arrangements thus exacerbate a problem that has been growing in Kazakhstan as in many other post-Soviet states: most of the voters are in the regions rather than major cities because people in the regions vote in far higher percentages but most of the party-list candidates come from major cities and especially from the capital.

            According to Makhanov, “there is good reason to assume that on August 23 when the elections to the Kurultai take place, turnout in the capitals will be even lower than it was three years ago” when there was at least some local interest in the single-mandate constituencies where there was real competition among individuals known to city residents.

            Indeed, he continues, it “would not be surprising” if the level of participation in the voting in cities reaches its lowest level yet and that, as a result, voters in the regions will play an even larger role in the election of deputies, even though they will be choosing by party list and thus electing people who are more likely to be from the capital than ever before.

            Some on the party lists, even though they come from the cities, claim that they can represent the interests of the regions; but they won’t be doing so on the basis of personal experience and so the regions will be less well represented than they would be if it were the case that people from there were to be serving in the parliament.

            A unicameral legislature and party list voting have much to recommend them; but if they lead to a decline in the attention the government gives to the regions, there could be serious problems ahead – and the possibility that this is going to be so should be recognized and steps taken to ensure more people from the regions are in the parliament.