Vlast.kz says Kazakhstan’s Constitutional Court on January 12 adopted a resolution to recognize the Law on the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan – Elbasy as null and void.
“Given the will to exclude Clause 4 Article 46 and some other norms from the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan, which the people of Kazakhstan expressed at a national referendum on June 5, 2022, we hereby recognize that the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan provides no legal grounds for further existence of the Constitutional Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan, On the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan – Elbasy, in the current legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The law shall therefore be declared null and void," the Constitutional Court said in a resolution on Wednesday.
Kazakhstan’s lower chamber (Majilis) of parliament started hearing a constitutional bill, On the Invalidation of the Constitutional Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan – Elbasy, at a plenary session on December 29, 2022.
The bill will be processed at a joint hearing of parliament chambers in January 2023.
The Law on the First President gives a number of privileges to former Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and members of his family. For instance, the document defines the political and legal status, prerogatives and guarantees of the first president upon the expiry of his term of office. The first president has the status of a People's Hero and is exempt from limitations on being elected president. The law gives immunity to the leader of nation, who cannot be held responsible for actions taken while in office. He cannot be detained, arrested, incarcerated, searched, inspected, or interrogated, either.
The immunity applies to all assets of Nazarbayev and family members who live together with him. The law provides for the activity of the former president and entitles him to a monthly pension in the amount of 80% of the presidential monthly salary.
There are some other privileges envisaged by the law, as well.
The invalidation of the Law on the First President of Kazakhstan will not strip Nazarbayev of immunity, because it is guaranteed by constitution, yet family members residing together with Nazarbayev will lose their immunity.
Nursultan Nazarbayev (born July 6, 1940) served as the first President of Kazakhstan, in office from country’s independence in 1991 until his formal resignation in 2019, and as the Chairman of the Security Council of Kazakhstan from 1991 to 2022. He held the special title as Elbasy (meaning Leader of the Nation) from 2010 to 2022. Nazarbayev was one of the longest-ruling non-royal leaders in the world, having led Kazakhstan for nearly three decades, excluding chairmanship in the Security Council after the end of his presidency.
