Crossroads Asia | Politics | Central Asia

What Kazakhstan’s New Unicameral Parliament Means for Its Foreign Policy

Although Kazakhstan’s Senate rarely exercised its influence over the country’s foreign policy, its abolishment has left the country without the diplomatic expertise and sequential vetting that the upper chamber once provided.     

In early June, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed enabling laws, putting into effect the new constitution passed via referendum in March 2026. Among the most significant changes was the abolishment of the bicameral parliament and its replacement with a new unicameral body, the Kurultai, whose 145 deputies were subsequently elected through party lists on August 23.

While the domestic consequences of the changes to the legislature have been debated widely, the question of how they will affect Kazakhstan’s foreign policymaking remains underexamined.     

With the abolishment of the bicameral parliament – comprising an upper house, the Senate, and a lower house, the Mazhilis – the number of committees under the new legislature was reduced to eight, down from 13 (seven in the former Mazhilis and six in the Senate).

Under Article 61 of the prior constitution, the dual-committee structure provided checks and balances within the legislative branch. The Mazhilis’s Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Security served as the primary chamber for drafting, amending, and holding preliminary readings for security and international agreements, while the Senate’s Committee on International Relations, Defense, and Security acted as a second layer of technical and diplomatic vetting. Treaties and defense pacts moved sequentially through both chambers and both committees. The Senate could approve, return for revisions, or reject a bill passed by the Mazhilis.

Another structural change lies in how deputies are selected. In the previous bicameral parliament, the president could appoint a certain number of deputies, and often appointed seasoned diplomats such as former ambassadors, ex-ministers, and career officials. The most prominent example is the current president, Tokayev, who was twice appointed as Senate speaker. Under the previous constitution, the Senate speaker was designated to become acting president if a sitting president stepped down or could not perform their duties – that’s what happened in 2019 when Nursultan Nazarbayev resigned. When Nazarbayev resigned, that arrangement delivered the presidency to an experienced diplomat, an outcome read at the time as a signal that Nazarbayev considered foreign policy the greatest challenge of the transition.

Although the previous Senate could reject the Mazhilis’ bills, it rarely rejected one outright. A strong presidency in Kazakhstan mostly sets direction of foreign policy, and the upper and lower chambers were typically aligned with the president’s objectives and policies. There was a case........

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