The Almaty City Mäslihat (, ; ) is a local

unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature consisting of one house or assembly that legislates and votes as one. Unicameralism has become an increasingly common type of legislature, making up nearly ...

legislative branch A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the authority, legal authority to make laws for a Polity, political entity such as a Sovereign state, country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with th ...

in the city of

Almaty Almaty, formerly Alma-Ata, is the List of most populous cities in Kazakhstan, largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population exceeding two million residents within its metropolitan area. Located in the foothills of the Trans-Ili Alatau mountains ...

. It is led by the current secretary, Meyirjan Otynşiev ( Amanat).

Composition

The City Mäslihat is composed of 42 deputies, half of which are elected through

party-list proportional representation Party-list proportional representation (list-PR) is a system of proportional representation based on preregistered Political party, political parties, with each party being Apportionment (politics), allocated a certain number of seats Apportionm ...

and the other half of which are elected regardless of their party affiliation, through single-mandate election. A deputy 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. Members of the local legislature are elected every 5 years. Before the 2023 election, the Mäslihat deputies used to be elected by a 7% threshold through

. 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 of whether it had passed the threshold or not.

History

The Almaty City Mäslihat was established on 10 December 1993 following the adoption of the law introducing significant changes to the name and structure of local state bodies, including those in

. The city held elections on 10 March 1994 to elect the deputies of the 1st convocation of the Mäslihat. Until 2021, the Almaty City Mäslihat consisted of 37 deputies, who were elected from

single-member district A single-member district or constituency is an electoral district represented by a single officeholder. It contrasts with a multi-member district, which is represented by multiple officeholders. In some countries, such as Australia and India ...

s by secret ballot every five years. On 23 May 2018, it was announced that all mäslihat deputies would be elected through proportional representation, and this law was enacted in June 2018. On 10 January 2021, the elections for the 39 deputies of the City Mäslihat were held for the first time using the party-list system. The

Nur Otan Amanat (; ; officially stylized in all caps), previously known as Nur Otan (; ), is a Ruling party, ruling List of political parties in Kazakhstan, political party of Kazakhstan and the largest political association in the country, with around 8 ...

party secured the majority with 29 seats, followed by three smaller parties. The 7th convocation of the Almaty City Mäslihat convened on 15 January, with Stanislav Kankurov elected as the secretary. In the 2023 local elections, the electoral system for all mäslihats was changed again. Now, half of the deputies are elected through party-list proportional representation, while the other half are elected through single-mandate elections.

Commissions

The City Mäslihat includes 6 standing commissions, which include:{{Cite web, url= https://www.gov.kz/memleket/entities/maslihat-almaty/activities/22102?lang=kk , title= VІII сайланған Алматы қаласы мәслихатының тұрақты комиссияларының құрамы , language= kk , publisher= The official website of the Almaty City Mäslihat , access-date= 22 April 2024 , archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20240422171340/https://www.gov.kz/memleket/entities/maslihat-almaty/activities/22102?lang=kk , archive-date= 22 April 2024 * 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

Almaty 1993 establishments in Kazakhstan