Local Government Structure in the New Republic

276 Meruert Makhmutova

members ofthe soviets were elected by the citizens.The law established a principle ofsupremacy ofrepresentative bodies.In doing so,it established local executive bodies,and the chair ofa local soviet was simultaneously assigned to chair an executive committee.In parallel,the law recognized the soviets as local self-government bodies.Thus,there was no distinction between local state government and local self-government.

Local Government Structure in the New Republic

On January 13,1992,a law amending the Law on Local Self-Governmentand Local Soviets in the Kazakh SSR was passed.This law,which applied during the transition period,substituted the principle ofsupremacy ofrepresentative bodies for the principle ofdifferentiation between the functions and powers ofrepresentative and executive bodies.

On the same day,the Supreme Soviet adopted the Law on Suspension ofthe Validity ofCertain Kazakh SSR Constitution Standards,which was also to apply during the transition period.That law introduced a new institution:a head oflocal administration,who was accountable to the president or the head of oblast (regional) administration and who was not controllable by the local soviet.The local soviets (ofany level) no longer had the right to review issues related to the competence ofheads ofadministration,and heads oflocal administration were no longer entitled to review issues on the competence ofthe respective local soviets.

On February 7,1992,the president ofKazakhstan signed the Decree on Improving the Organization and Activities ofPublic Administration Bodies under the Conditions ofEconomic Reform.This decree established for the first time a uniform structure ofexecutive administration,from the president to the heads oflocal administration,and stipulated the responsibilities ofthe Cabinet ofMinisters in the strategic supervision ofall executive power.Thus,a vertical structure ofexecutive power was created.

The first constitution ofthe Republic ofKazakhstan as an independent state,which was adopted on January 28,1993,by the Supreme Soviet, preserved local representative bodies and even declared their right to make independent decisions within their competence.

This structure oflocal government was identified by the Law on Local Representative and Executive Bodies,which the Supreme Soviet adopted on December 10,1993,immediately before dissolving itself.This law designated completely new approaches,among which the following have become most important:First,representative assemblies (maslikhats) no longer constitute local executive bodies.Second,a head oflocal administration represents

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the president,not local citizens.Third,representative bodies are formed at the oblast and rayon (district) levels only,not in rural villages (auls).Fourth, representative bodies are no longer called local self-governments,although they are considered representative bodies ofthe population.Fifth,the concept of local self-government is no longer recognized in the law;the concept ofexecutive bodies established by the soviets was also removed from the law.

The present constitution,1 which was adopted on August 30,1995,recognized the system ofgovernment that was identified by the Law on Local Representative and Executive Bodies.Article 85 recognizes local state government,and article 89 recognizes self-government.

Local bodies ofpublic administration include oblast,rayon,and city maslikhats;oblast,rayon and city akimats (local executive branch);and rural akims (local executive).Local bodies ofstate government exist as follows:

At the oblast level,there are 14 oblasts and 2 cities with special status (Almaty and Astana) with state government bodies. At the rayon level,there are 159 rayons and 37 cities that have the same status as rayons with state government bodies. At the rural level,the settlements,auls (villages),and aul districts have only executive bodies.

As ofJanuary 1,2006,the administrative and territorial contour ofthe country was as shown in table 8.1.

In January 2001,the Law on Local Public Administration in Kazakhstan was adopted.2 The law includes the following basic concepts:

Local public administration is defined as activities carried out by local representative and executive bodies to implement or develop state policy on local territory,within their competence,as determined by legislation. The local executive branch,or akimat,is headed by an oblast-level akim (for a city ofnational value and the capital) or a rayon-level akim (for cities ofoblast value) and implements local public administration in the respective territory within its competence.The akim represents the president and government ofKazakhstan and the head ofthe local executive body (ifthere is one),and is responsible for implementing state policy within the local territory.The akim provides for the functioning ofall the territorial bodies funded from the budget,and is responsible for the economic and social development in the given territory. The local representative body,or maslikhat,is elected by the inhabitants of the oblast (for a city ofnational value and the capital) or rayon (for a city ofoblast value).It expresses the will ofthe citizens, determines measures