Crossroads Asia | Politics | Central Asia

Kazakhstan’s New Parliament Appoints Tokayev’s Pick, Aibek Dadebay, as Chair

Kazakhstan’s new unicameral parliament voted in favor of appointing the leader of the Adilet party, a close confidant of President Tokayev, as its first chairman.

One of the first points of action when Kazakhstan’s new unicameral parliament met for the first time on August 28 was the election of its speaker from among the 145 elected parliamentarians. The choice almost unanimously fell on the leader of the Adilet party, Aibek Dadebay, who had already been nominated for the position in advance by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. 

Adilet won more than 70 percent of the vote during the election, making it by far the largest party in the Kurultai with 110 seats. 

The new speaker has worked as an academic and diplomat over the past 25 years, most recently working within the country’s presidential administration. His career has been shaped by Tokayev, with whom he has worked since 2013, when the now-president chaired the Kazakh Senate. 

Despite technically being a new party in Kazakhstan, Adilet was quickly connected to other pro-presidential parties. Two months after its founding congress in May, Adilet experienced an immense boost in power as the Amanat party, which had dominated Kazakh politics for over 20 years (prior to 2022 under the name Nur-Otan), decided to merge with them. Besides boosting Adilet, the merger was also seen as a way to maintain the organizational structures of the senior party, while distancing it from its historic connections to former President Nursultan Nazarbayev. This was seen as necessary following the chaos that erupted in relation to the January 2022 events – also known as Qandy Qantar, or Bloody January.

Despite already being a close associate of Tokayev, it was in the aftermath of Qandy Qantar that Dadebay began work in the central presidential administration. Within a few years, he advanced to become head of the presidential administration. He was relieved of that post on May 5; just two days later, he was elected as chairman of Adilet. This decision, along with the ease with which the party was........

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