Rights
A 2022 reform that restored a Constitutional Court and capped the presidency
The 1995 Constitution was amended by referendum in 2022, replacing the Constitutional Council with a full Constitutional Court open to individual complaints and limiting the president to a single seven-year term.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — Unitary state with 17 regions and three cities of republican significance. The Constitutional Court sits outside the ordinary hierarchy.
Governing law
- Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan1995, amended 2022
- Constitutional Law on the Constitutional Court2022
In practice
Before 2022 only officials could petition the Constitutional Council, so citizens had no direct route to constitutional review. The new Court accepts individual complaints once ordinary remedies are exhausted, which is the most consequential change in the reform package. The same amendments removed the first president's special status, barred close relatives of the president from senior state office, and reduced presidential appointment powers over regional governors. Rights are listed in Section II and are now directly invocable in a way they previously were not.