Staff changes continue in Kazakhstan’s parliament

According to the Mazhilis press service, Koshanov’s candidacy was nominated by Erlan Sairov, a deputy of the chamber.

«Erlan Koshanov has been elected as the new chairman of Mazhilis through secret ballot procedure. To ensure that the voting complies with official procedures, the chamber created a vote count panel. Voting booths and glassy ballot boxes were brought to the Mazhilis. The new speaker of the Mazhilis Erlan Koshanov expressed his gratitude to all deputies for their trust,» the official statement said.

The Central Electoral Commission (CEC) of Kazakhstan has confirmed that Nurlan Nigmatulin, who had served as the speaker of Mazhilis since 2016, asked the commission about the early termination of his mandate as a deputy of the parliament. As a result, he was also dismissed from office of the chairman of the chamber.

The CEC decided to pass over the vacant mandate of the Mazhilis deputy to Erlan Koshanov, who previously was a member of the Nur Otan party. Now he is an official member of the party fraction in the parliament with a certificate and a badge. 

Erlan Koshanov was born in 1962 in the city of Karaganda. He graduated from Karaganda Polytechnic Institute in 1984; and Kazakh State Academy of Public Management in 1999. He worked as a locksmith and then a foreman at the Jezkazgan Metallurgical Plant. During his political career, Koshanov served as a Senate deputy, vice-minister of transport and communications, head of the Committee of Civil Aviation, chairman of the prime minister’s office and head of the Karaganda region. Right before the new nomination, he was the head of the president’s executive office.