The ultimate rebrand: Kazakhstan’s ruling party to dissolve into upstart
Delegates at the 26th Congress of Kazakhstan’s ruling Amanat party in Astana voted today to merge the party with the newly established Adilet party.
According to congress organizers, the proposal was approved unanimously, with no votes against and no abstentions.
Party officials said the merger is intended to combine the organizations’ experience, personnel and public support in pursuit of Kazakhstan’s long-term development goals and the creation of what they described as a fair and progressive state.
Adilet emerges as successor
The Adilet party, established just over a month ago, is led by Aibek Dadebay, former head of the Executive Office of the President of Kazakhstan.
Political observers view the creation of Adilet and its merger with Amanat as part of preparations for upcoming parliamentary elections expected in August. The elections will be held for a newly structured unicameral legislature known as the Kurultai.
Amanat’s political legacy
Amanat traces its origins to 1999, when it was founded at the initiative of Kazakhstan’s first president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, as the Otan Republican Political Party.
In 2006, the party was renamed Nur Otan, a name it retained until 2022. Following political reforms initiated after the January 2022 unrest, it was rebranded as Amanat.
Nazarbayev served as chairman of the party until January 2022, when President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev assumed the role. Tokayev later stepped down from party leadership as part of a broader effort to distance the presidency from political parties and movements. He was succeeded by Yerlan Koshanov, speaker of the Mazhilis, the lower house of Parliament.
Read also: Wisdom or wit? The most popular proverbs in the Kazakh parliament.
Koshanov described the merger with Adilet as a union of equals rather than a takeover by one party of another. According to him, the focus should be on the political significance of the move rather than on which party formally absorbed the other.
The speaker noted that the development represents the consolidation of two political forces and should be viewed as a process of unification rather than one party being «senior» or «junior» to the other.
Koshanov argued that legal and organizational procedures involved in registering and restructuring parties are secondary. The key issue, he said, is the merger itself, which brings together the resources, experience and political potential of both organizations.
