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The Senate of Kazakhastan (Kazakh: Қазақстан Парламентінің Сенаты, Qazaqstan Parlamentiniñ Senatı) is the upper house of two chambers in Kazakhstan's legislature, known as the Parliament (Parlamenti). The Senate is composed of elected members - two from each region, the city of republican importance (Almaty) and the capital city of the Republic of Kazakhstan at joint sessions of the members of all representative bodies of respective regions, city of the republican importance and the capital city of the Republic.
Contents
- Joint sessions of Senate and Mazhilis
- Separate sessions of Senate and Mazhilis
- Exclusive powers of the Senate of Parliament
- Special authorities of the Senate of Parliament
- Chairman of the Senate
- Rights Requirements and Responsibilities of Senators
- Parliamentary activities
- Standing committees
- MPs inquiries and questions
- Senates international activities
- References
Members of the Senate are elected on the basis of indirect suffrage by secret ballot. Half of elected members of the Senate are up for election every three years.
Fifteen members are appointed by the President of Kazakhstan with the view to ensure representation for all the diverse national, cultural components of society.
The term of office for the members of the Senate is 6 years.
According to constitutional norms in the Parliament of the fifth convocation, members of the Senate elected in 2011 and 2014 and those appointed by the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan in 2011 and 2013 continue to hold office.
Joint sessions of Senate and Mazhilis
According to the Constitution and the Constitutional law "On the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan" the Parliament at joint sessions of the Chambers shall:
Separate sessions of Senate and Mazhilis
Parliament at separate sessions of the Chambers through consecutive consideration of issues first in the Mazhilis and then in the Senate shall adopt constitutional laws and laws, and shall:
Also shall:
Exclusive powers of the Senate of Parliament
The following shall belong to exclusive jurisdiction of the Senate:
Special authorities of the Senate of Parliament
Each Chamber independently without participation of another Chamber shall:
Chairman of the Senate
The Chairman of the Senate is a person elected by the Senate among the members of the House by a secret voting majority from the total number of deputies of the House. The candidature on the post of the Chairman of the Senate is nominated by the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev is the current Chairman of the Senate.
There are two Deputy Chairmen of the Senate (currently Kairat Ischanov and Askar Beisenbayev)
Rights, Requirements, and Responsibilities of Senators
A member of the Parliament must be a citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan who has been a permanent resident on its territory over the last ten years.
To hold office Senators have to be at least 30 years of age with higher education and 5 years of work experience, permanently residing on the territory of the particular region, city of republican significance or the capital of the Republic for at least 3 years.
Powers of a member of the Parliament commence from the moment of his/her registration as a member of the Parliament by the Central Election Commission of the Republic.
At the first session of Parliament at joint session of its Chambers MPs take oath to the people of Kazakhstan: "I do solemnly swear to truly serve the people of Kazakhstan, to strengthen integrity and independence of the Republic of Kazakhstan, to abide strictly by its Constitution and laws, to carry out honestly the high duties of an MP assigned to me».
Administration of the oath is done by the President at a ceremony in the presence of members of the Government, the Constitutional Council, judges of the Supreme Court, ex-presidents of the Republic.
Senators, along with all other MPs, must participate in the work of the Parliament and its bodies; they may only vote in person.
Member of the Senate exercises the right of a decisive vote on all issues considered at sessions of Parliament and its bodies of which he/she is a member.
Senators have the rights to:
Parliamentary activities
Standing committees of the Senate within the scope of their competence are free to choose forms and methods of activity, interact with state bodies and public unions, examine and take into account public opinion, hold parliamentary hearings, government hours, conferences, round tables, meetings, presentations and other parliamentary events.
Committees of the Senate hold visiting sessions across regions in order to examine public opinion on bills under consideration by the Parliament and other pressing issues.
MPs visit for their or other regions quarterly and meet with different groups of people, get acquainted with the situation on the fields, answer citizens’ questions, comment on major provisions of laws adopted by the Parliament.
Standing committees
MPs’ inquiries and questions
MPs’ inquiry is an official request addressed at a joint and separate sessions of the Chambers of the Parliament to state officials to obtain information on specific matters related to the competence of this body or an official.
Member of the Senate has the right to make an inquiry to the Prime Minister and the Government, Chairman of the National Bank, Chairman and members of Central Election Commission, Prosecutor General, Chairman of the Committee of National Security of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Chairman and members of the Accounts committee for control over execution of the republican budget.
Up to now members of the Senate have made more than thousand inquiries on various issues of state and public life.
Senate's international activities
Parliament’s involvement in international activity of Kazakhstan and engagement of MPs in identifying and implementing foreign policy of our country has significantly increased.
Senators actively participate in the work of such inter-parliamentary organizations as Inter-parliamentary Assembly of Member States of the Commonwealth of Independent States, Inter-parliamentary Assembly of the Eurasian Economic Community, Parliamentary Assemblies of CSTO, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, Interparliamentary Union, European Parliament, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Parliamentary Assembly of NATO, Turk PA.
Senate of the Parliament makes a significant contribution to the activity of inter-parliamentary organizations and promotion of inter-parliamentary dialogue, enhancing integration of Kazakhstan into the world community, increase its role and capacity to shape decision making process in line with their national interests.
Involvement of the Senate of the Parliament in international parliamentary organizations: