ALMATY, Kazakhstan, March 15, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - Kazakhs will cast ballots on 
Sunday in a constitutional referendum that authorities brand as democratising 
-- though several proposed amendments appear to strengthen presidential 
powers in Central Asia's richest country.

The vote on changing around 80 percent of the country's basic law is pushed 
by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who seeks to balance the resource-rich 
former Soviet republic's ties between the European Union, Russia and China.

After the 2022 protests over the cost of living that escalated into riots and 
left 238 people dead, the president pledged to liberalise the political 
system to build a "just Kazakhstan".

Announcing the amendments in February, he said that "Kazakhstan is once and 
for all moving away from a super-presidential form of rule and transitioning 
to a presidential republic with a strong parliament."

Tokayev, a Soviet-educated former diplomat who speaks fluent Chinese, said 
his proposals are essentially "creating a new system of state governance" 
that would "allow for the redistribution of power" and "strengthen the checks 
and balances system".

However, several proposals indicate the opposite: the president would be able 
to appoint top officials such as the heads of the central bank, the 
intelligence services, and the constitutional court.

The positions currently require approval from the Senate, the parliament's 
upper chamber, which would be abolished under the amendments.

Instead, a new single-chamber assembly, the Kurultai, would be created. But 
the head of state would be able to dissolve it and rule by executive orders 
if the parliament refuses to approve the presidential nominees to key posts 
twice.

The amendments provide for a further tightening of freedom of speech, stating 
that it must not "undermine the morality of society or violate public order", 
according to the draft text.

Demonstrations -- already rare in Kazakhstan -- could also face further 
limitations.

The sweeping constitutional overhaul was proposed just a month ago and then 
rushed through a hasty two-week campaign that saw little criticism.

International observers say that elections in Kazakhstan are often 
predictable and tend to ratify decisions taken by the leadership, as across 
much of post-Soviet Central Asia.

Tokayev brands himself as a reformer seeking to break with the country's 
authoritarian past, but rights groups say democratic institutions remain 
tightly controlled.

To boost turnout and support for the referendum, authorities have involved 
famous athletes and mobilised workers in mining and oil industries -- two 
important sectors in the Kazakh economy.

Several critics of the reforms have been summoned by police or briefly 
detained, while journalists who published independent opinion polls have been 
fined.