Almaty City Mäslihat

Almaty City Mäslihat Алматы қаласы мәслихаты
Type
Type	Unicameral
History
Founded	10 December 1993
Preceded by	Almaty City Soviet
Leadership
Secretary	Meyirjan Otynşiev, Amanat since 30 March 2023[1]
Structure
Seats	28
Political groups	Party-list deputies (21)[2]   Amanat (12)   Respublica (3)   People's Party (3)   Baytaq (2)   Aq Jol (1) Single-mandate deputies (21)   Independents (21)[3]
Elections
Last election	19 March 2023
Next election	2028
Meeting place
Website
gov.kz/memleket/entities/maslihat-almaty

The Almaty City Mäslihat (Kazakh: Алматы қаласы мәслихаты, Almaty qalasy mäslihaty, [ɑɫmɑˈtʰɯ qɑɫɑˈsɯ mæs.lɘjxɑˈtʰɯ]) is a local unicameral legislative branch in the city of Almaty. It is led by the current Secretary, Meyirjan Otynşiev (Amanat).^[1]

Composition[edit]

The City Mäslihat is composed of 42 councillors, half of which are elected through party-list proportional representation^[2] and the other half of which are elected regardless of their party affiliation, through single-mandate election.^[3] A member of the mäslihat may be a citizen of Kazakhstan who has reached 20 years of age and can be a member of only one mäslihat.^[4]

Members of the local legislature are elected every 5 years. Before the 2023 election, the Mäslihat members used to be elected by a 7% threshold through party-list proportional representation. If only one parties managed to bypass the electoral threshold, then the party would've won the second highest number of votes is granted enough seats for representation in the mäslihat regardless whether it had passed the threshold or not.^[5]

History[edit]

The Almaty City Mäslihat was established on the 10th of December 1993 after the Supreme Soviet of Kazakhstan adopted the law "On local representative and executive bodies of the Republic of Kazakhstan", which made significant changes to the name and structure of local state bodies including to the city of Almaty itself.^[6] The city held the elections on 10 March 1994 to elect the councillors of the 1st convocation of the Mäslihat.^[7] The Almaty City Mäslihat was composed of 37 councillors who are represented by single-member constituency and were elected by a secret ballot every 5 years according to the Clause 2 of Article 86 of the Constitution of Kazakhstan, Section VIII "Local state government and self-government".^[8] On 23 May 2018, it was announced that all members of mäslihat bodies will be elected through proportional representation.^[9] The law was enacted in June 2018.

On the 10th of January 2021, the elections for the 39 councillors of the City Mäslihat was held for the first time where the councillors were elected based on party-list. The Nur Otan won majority of 29 seats followed by 3 minor parties. The 7th Convocation of the Almaty City Mäslihat convened on 15 January where Stanislav Kankurov was elected to be the secretary.^[10]

When the 2023 local elections were taking place, the electoral system of all mäslihats changed, and now while half of the members are elected through party-list proportional representation, the others are elected through single-mandate election.

Commissions[edit]

The City Mäslihat includes 6 standing commissions, which include:^[11]

• Commission on Economy, Finance, Assets, Public Administration Development, Public and Seismic Safety;
• Commission on construction, architecture, urbanism, land relations and development of public spaces;
• Commission on communal infrastructure, energy, water supply and urban mobility;
• Commission on entrepreneurship, investments, tourism and ecology;
• Commission on social development, culture, sport, religion and youth;
• Commission on Health, Education and Employment.

References[edit]