In late January, Kazakhstan unveiled sweeping constitutional amendments that would reshape the majority of its current constitution, introducing a vice presidency, dissolving the upper chamber of parliament and restoring a fully proportional party list system.

While the government frames these changes as modernisation and a move away from a super presidential model, critics argue they further consolidate executive power and weaken already limited checks and balances. The reforms also foreground questions of succession ahead of presidential elections due to take place in 2029. Can Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev succeed in remaking Kazakhstan’s constitutional order?

This discussion will explore:

• What the reforms reveal about Kazakhstan’s political trajectory.
• The implications for presidential succession and the greater latitude the amendments accord to the executive branch.
• The implications for Nazarbayev-era elites.
• Kazakhstan’s relationship with Russia.