ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s Senate held its final session on June 29, concluding the 30-year history of the upper house ahead of the country’s transition to a unicameral parliamentary system under the new Constitution, said Senate Chair Maulen Ashimbayev. Senate Chair Maulen Ashimbayev chairs the Senate’s final session in Astana on June 29.
Photo credit: Senate press service. Ashimbayev said the current parliamentary session will officially end at a joint sitting of both chambers on June 30. Parliament’s powers will terminate on July 1, in line with the new Constitution, while elections to the new unicameral Parliament, the Kurultai, are scheduled for August.
Summarizing the Senate’s three decades of work, Ashimbayev said the chamber held more than 890 plenary sessions and adopted over 3,500 laws, including more than 350 initiated by members of Parliament. He noted that Senate-approved legislation laid the foundation for Kazakhstan’s new political, economic and fiscal model, strengthened the country’s social policy, improved the judicial and law-enforcement systems and expanded citizens’ rights and freedoms, according to the Senate’s press service.
In addition to its legislative work, the Senate organized more than 60 parliamentary hearings and over 3,000 events, while sending around 3,000 parliamentary inquiries to the Government addressing concerns raised by citizens. According to Ashimbayev, 246 senators served in the chamber throughout its history.
Speaking to the media after the session, Ashimbayev said the future Kurultai should include more new faces, promising politicians, young people, women and regional representatives to broaden public participation in governance, reported Kazinform. He also said Senate staff would continue their work in the new parliamentary institutions, including the Kurultai and the Khalyk Kenesi (People’s Council), stressing that their experience would remain in demand and their employment would be protected.
Ashimbayev concluded by thanking senators, parliamentary staff and media representatives for their work over the past three decades and wished success to the future Kurultai.