Last summer
(between the 5th and the 9th of August) the election of local mayors or akims under a
new system has successfully taken place across villages, towns as well as in
rural districts all over Kazakhstan.
A total of 2,454 new akims have been elected, which are the 91% of the total
(the akims at higher level are appointed).
Kazakhstan is a unitary state, presenting
three levels of administration: first of all, the country is divided into 14
oblasts (regions) and two main cities – the capital Astana and the biggest and
economically most relevant city Almaty. At the second level there are raions
(provinces), including some cities which have raion status. The third level
counts local administrations, including villages, towns and rural districts.
Mayors at all levels are called akims (see Makhmutova 2003).
The local
akims election is part of a process of administrative decentralization, so far
under the total control of Astana. The legislative basis of this process is to
be found in a Constitutional amendment (2007) introducing the concept of local
self-administration, and in a Presidential Decree (n. 1287/2012), which approved
the “Concept for the development of local self-administration in Kazakhstan”.
The latter establishes two phases: the first (2012-2016), should “enhance the potential of
existing administrative structures”, through a clear division of functions
between local representatives of the central government and local
self-administration bodies. Moreover, in this phase measures for ensuring
financial and budget autonomy for the local administrations should be taken.
The second phase (2017-2020) foresees a further enhancement of local
autonomies, although no specific measures are indicated.
The
elections of local akims was initially scheduled for the second phase but was
instead announced for 2013 by the President Nazarbayev in the strategy “Kazakhstan 2050”, presented in December
2012. The decentralization process was here considered “crucial for democratization
and the building of a strong and effective state”.
In order to
put this plans into practice, a law was adopted in June 2013 (n. 101-V/2013),
which had the goal of eliminate overlaps and potential conflicts between
different levels of administration and to improve administrative management.
The specific rules for akims elections were instead announced with a
Presidential Decree (n. 555/2013). Akims are elected indirectly by groups of
great electors, formed within the raionnye maslikhaty (consultive bodies at the
raion level). As maslikhats members are directly elected, it has been emphasized
that the reform introduces a further step towards democratization and political
participation: now akims are, at least indirectly, accountable also towards the
population.
Despite the
great relevance given to the event by the official press, these elections are
indeed a very cautions step towards administrative decentralization. Although
presented directly, candidatures need to be approved by the raion akim, after
consultations with representatives of civil society. Centre-dependent bodies,
therefore, maintain a sort of veto power on candidatures. Moreover, despite
nominally in charge of budget, local akims still depend on raions for their
financial needs. Obviously the next steps will be decisive.
Astana has
always been very cautious when walking on the path of decentralization:
multiple times in the past, experiments in this sense (including elections of
local and even oblast akims, in 2004 and 2006) were cancelled soon after their
implementation.
Sources:
Makhmutova,
Meruert (2003). “Local Government in Kazakhstan”, in: Munteanu, Igor,
and Victor Popa, (eds) Developing New Rules in the Old Environment. Local
Government and Public Service. http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/untc/unpan015094.pdf
Presidential
Decree n. 1287 of the 11/10/2012: http://adilet.zan.kz/rus/docs/P1200001287
Strategya Kazakhstan 2050:
http://www.akorda.kz/ru/page/page_poslanie-prezidenta-respubliki-kazakhstan-n-nazarbaeva-narodu-kazakhstana-14-dekabrya-2012-g_1357813742
Presidential
Decree n. 555 of the 24/04/2013: http://inform.kz/rus/article/2554028
Law n.
101-V of the 13/06/2013: http://adilet.zan.kz/rus/docs/Z1300000101
“New Mayoral Elections successfully conclude
across Kazakhstan”,
(Press release, CEC, 12/08/2013): http://kazconsulny.org/news/new_mayoral_elections_successfully_conclude_across_kk1728l53.php
This post has been originally published
(in Italian) on the Milan University blog "Diritto Pubblico dei Paesi
dell'Europa Centro-Orientale".
Link: http://users2.unimi.it/dirpubesteuropa/2013/11/le-elezioni-degli-akim-locali-in-kazakistan/
