Kazakhstan’s parliament is going to cancel law on first president

The law on the first president is going to be annulled in Kazakhstan. Members of the Mazhilis (the lower house of the parliament) have started reviewing the corresponding draft law. 

According to Arman Kozhakhmetov, chairman of the Committee on Legislation and Judicial and Legal Reform of Mazhilis, the document is going to implement all those amendments that have been added to Kazakhstan’s constitution.  

«The amended constitution no longer includes Clause 4 of Article 46 of the constitution that regulated the status and authorities of the first president of the country,» he said at the plenary session of Mazhilis.

As a result, MPs have agreed to take into consideration the draft law, which is aimed at canceling the law on the first president.

The law on the first president describes his status and authority. It also provides the ex-president with immunity, communication support, physical protection, accommodation, transportation, retirement benefits, insurance and medical services. However, it is still unknown whether the draft law proposes a complete elimination of all these benefits or just some of them.

On June 5, Kazakhstan’s people took part in the national referendum on amendments to the constitution. The proposal to revoke Nursultan Nazarbayev, the first president of the country, from the constitution was one of these amendments. Also, the document eliminated any kind of privileges for the ex-president’s relatives.

On December 19, Justice Minister Kanat Musin said that the cabinet wasn’t engaged in the development of amendments to the law of the first president, citing plenty of other urgent tasks.