Қазақстан Парламентінің Сенаты: құрылысы мен тарихы

Upper house in the Parliament of Kazakhstan

The Senate of Kazakhstan (, Қазақстан Парламентінің Сенаты, ) is the upper house of two chambers in Kazakhstan's legislature, known as the Parliament (Parlamenti). The Senate is composed of elected members: two from each region and two from three municipalities which are Almaty, Astana, and Shymkent. Members of the Senate are elected on the basis of indirect suffrage by secret ballot. Half of elected members of the Senate are up for election every three years. Ten members are appointed by the president of Kazakhstan with the view to ensure representation for all the diverse national, cultural components of society. The term of office for the members of the Senate is six years.

The Senate of Kazakhstan was established shortly after the 1995 Kazakh constitutional referendum held on 30 August 1995 where voters approved of a new draft of the Constitution that formed a bicameral Parliament which included the upper house Senate in Kazakhstan for the first time. According to the Constitution, the term of office of the senators of the 1st convocation was four years, while half of the senators were re elected every two years. In the aftermath of the elections held on 5 December 1995, 40 senators were elected in which 2 each from 19 regions and the capital of Kazakhstan which at that time was Almaty from the mäslihats (local legislatures) members and 7 senators were appointed by President Nursultan Nazarbayev. The Senate convened in first session on 30 January 1996. On 8 October 1997, elections for four year term senators were held in connection with the end of the term of office of the senators who were elected for two years. After the past administrative reform and optimization of regions, 15 senators were elected which were held in 14 regions and in Almaty. In aftermath of Akmola being declared as the new capital of Kazakhstan, elections for senators were held on 11 February 1998 from the city. On 7 October 1998, amendments to the Constitution of Kazakhstan were adopted, according to which the term of office of a senator was increased to six years, while the other half of the senators were to be every three years. In connection with the end of the term of office of the senators who were elected in 1995 for a four year term, reelections took place on 17 September 1999, where the senators were elected for 6 year term. The senators elected in 1997 continued serving in the 2nd convocation until December 2002. On 21 May 2007, amendments to the Constitution of Kazakhstan were adopted. The number of senators appointed by the president of Kazakhstan increased from 7 to 15. On 29 August 2007, by a presidential decree, 8 new senators were appointed, thus the number of seats in the Senate increased from 39 to 47. In June 2018, the city of Shymkent became a municipality, which led to a Senate election in the City Mäslihat on 5 October 2018. As a result, the number of senate seats was increased from 47 to 49. In May 2019, the status of "Honorary Senator" was established, which was awarded to the first president of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, for "his outstanding contribution to the formation of the constitutional and legal foundations of the Republic of Kazakhstan as a democratic, secular, legal and social state, as well as to the formation and development of domestic parliamentarianism."

Out of the 50 members of the Senate of Kazakhstan, 40 are indirectly elected for six years by delegates from the 17 provinces and three national cities. They are not elected all at once: twenty are elected every three years, one per province and city. Senators represent every region and city. The remaining 10 are nominated by the president, among which half on the proposal of the People's Assembly.

The Senate chair has two deputy chairs who carry out tasks that are made by the chair. The deputy chairs are elected by the Senate MPs who are nominated by the chair. There are two deputy chairs of the Senate, currently Asqar Şäkirov and Nurlan Äbdirov.

Standing committees of the Senate within the scope of their competence are free to choose forms and methods of activity, interact with state bodies and public unions, examine and take into account public opinion, hold parliamentary hearings, government hours, conferences, round tables, meetings, presentations and other parliamentary events. Committees of the Senate hold visiting sessions across regions in order to examine public opinion on bills under consideration by the Parliament and other pressing issues. MPs visit for their or other regions quarterly and meet with different groups of people, get acquainted with the situation on the fields, answer citizens' questions, comment on major provisions of laws adopted by the Parliament.

MPs' inquiry is an official request addressed at a joint and separate sessions of the Chambers of the Parliament to state officials to obtain information on specific matters related to the competence of this body or an official. Members of the Senate have the right to make an inquiry to the prime minister and the Government, chairman of the National Bank, chairman and members of the Central Election Commission, prosecutor general, chairman of the National Security Committee, chairman and members of the Accounts committee for control over execution of the republican budget. Up to now members of the Senate have made more than thousand inquiries on various issues of state and public life.