During the broadcast of “Khabar 24” TV channel, the Chairman of the Senate was questioned about the need for keeping the bicameral Parliament and the relevance of the mechanism for electing the Senate. Maulen Ashimbayev called the current system the most suitable in terms of political system development and adoption of effective laws, protection of strategic interests of the state, as well as taking into account the opinions of all social groups and regions in the legislative process. The speaker explained the manner in which the composition of the two Houses is formed, and emphasized that the Senate balances both the party and regional interests.
“The Majilis is the House which is formed based on the results of elections where political parties get involved. Parties prepare their lists in accordance with their ideological attitudes, political objectives and programs. Representatives of the regions are elected to the Senate, and 2/3 are representatives of the regions. Representatives of all our regions, the capital, Almaty and Shymkent are elected in the Senate through maslikhats. They, first of all, represent their region, and speak about the interests of this region. This way, party interests and regional representation are balanced in our Parliament,” Maulen Ashimbayev said.
The Senate Speaker stated that both the interests of political parties and those of the regions are taken into account during consideration of the bills in the Majilis and the Senate, therefore, laws are thrashed out and become more efficient. Bicameral parliaments now exist not only in Kazakhstan, and not only in the federal states. Bicameral Parliaments are functioning in France, Poland, the Czech Republic and other unitary states. As regards the elections of deputies to the Senate through maslikhats, Maulen Ashimbayev called them legitimate. He also recalled that even heads of state are elected through indirect elective franchise in a number of developed democratic countries. He also reminded that in a number of advanced democracies, even heads of state are elected through indirect elective franchise.
“Sometimes some moments are criticized by our society. However, it is common for us to consider the USA as the model in terms of democratic processes. And today the American president is elected by voters, each state has a certain number of voters, and they vote for the President with due consideration given to the opinion of the population of the state,” Maulen Ashimbayev noted.
Additionally, the Senate Speaker told of what the parliamentarians will do during the new session.
“Our first and foremost task is to provide an adequate legal framework and to adopt the necessary laws for the implementation of all the goals and proposals announced in the Address of the Head of State. The Address is a comprehensive and systemic document. It covers very many life spheres of our state and it is essential to adopt the most important laws in each of them,” Maulen Ashimbayev said.
