Five parties will enter Kazakhstan’s new unicameral parliament, the Kurultai, after the August 23 election but the balance of power remains unchanged. Adilet, as expected, secured a majority of the vote – 71 percent according to official preliminary data – with Auyl (6.26 percent), Ak Zhol (5.21 percent), the National Social Democratic Party (5.11 percent), and Respublica (5.56 percent) all barely cresting the 5 percent threshold to enter parliament. Turnout across the country exceeded 74 percent.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) election observation mission commented in its preliminary findings that although the polls were “technically well prepared,” the elections “took place in an environment lacking political pluralism.”

The OSCE commented that “significant differences between voter activity observed and the official turnout data… raised questions about the integrity of the voter turnout reporting and the counting process.” OSCE observers also noted “concerning indications of pressure on voters.”

All seven parties contesting the elections endorsed President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s policies. There was very little media coverage in the runup to the election, with the OSCE noting, “The media monitored by the observers provided scarce editorial and analytical coverage of the elections, diminishing voters’ ability to make an informed choice.” Ahead of the vote, a group of human rights organizations issued a statement decrying state pressure on independent journalists before the polls.

Independent candidates were not permitted and only officially registered parties were eligible to compete, circumscribing the contest to those with government approval. 

Technically, Adilet is a new party, having been formed in the spring of 2026 and obtaining registration in early June. But that newness is utterly cosmetic. Two days after leaving his position as head of the presidential administration, Aibek Dadebay was elected chairman of Adilet in May. Then, on June 12, Kazakhstan’s then-ruling party, Amanat, announced it would seek to merge with Adilet. Two days later, when Adilet held its own party congress, it accepted Amanat with open arms.

Amanat is no stranger to cosmetic change. Founded in 1999 as Otan – meaning “homeland” or “fatherland” – the party merged together several pro-presidential groups. It became the party vehicle for Kazakhstan’s first president, Nursultan Nazarbayev. In 2006 it took on the name Nur-Otan. Since the 2004 parliamentary elections, the party has been in either a majority or supermajority position as the Nazarbayev regime dismantled and cracked down on upstart opposition groups. 

After Nazarbayev stepped down as president in 2019, he remained chairman of Nur-Otan (as well as holding onto a number of other significant posts, such as chairman of the Security Council). In December 2021, Nazarbayev announced that he would transfer leadership of Nur-Otan to Tokayev. 

The events of January 2022 – known as Qandy Qantar, “Bloody January” – accelerated de-Nazarbayevification in Kazakhstan; that is, the removal of Nazarbayev’s personality from various aspects of the political and social architecture. But the underlying structure has remained virtually untouched and Nur-Otan’s transformation is a case in point. 

Tokayev officially became the head of the Nur-Otan on January 28, 2022. He then sought to evolve the party beyond its association with Nazarbayev. In March 2022, the party took on a new name – Amanat – and the following month he stepped down as chairman. This created symbolic distance between the president and party politics, but the party remained pro-presidential. 

Amanat’s merger into Adilet – a party headed by Tokayev’s allies – is merely the next step in this potemkin evolution. 

The ease with which Adilet went from creation to registration to supermajority contrasts sharply with the difficulties faced by other political upstarts. As I’ve written previously:

On numerous occasions over the years, activists affiliated with unregistered political parties have found themselves inconveniently detained on their way to gather, a necessary step in organizing a political party. At times, it’s worse. In February 2022,  Zhanbolat Mamai – the head of the unregistered Democratic Party – was arrested and convicted in April 2023 on charges that he orchestrated “mass riots” during the 2022 protests. In lieu of prison time, he was subject to a broad ban on social and political activity. 

Between May 2022 and July 2023, the Alga Kazakhstan party was refused registration 16 times.

Earlier [in 2026], Meiram Kazhyken, leader of the unregistered YNTYMAQ political party, wrote an appeal to Tokayev after his efforts to register had twice been rebuffed.

Article 23 of the Kazakh Constitution guarantees citizens the right to the freedom of association. “However, in practice, we have encountered a situation where this right has become virtually unattainable,” Kazhyken wrote in January.

“Without the real possibility of registering parties and associations, Kazakhstan risks remaining among the countries with limited freedoms, and public trust in reforms will decline.”

The Kurultai elections, if nothing else, represent yet another demonstration that for all Tokayev’s talk of a “new Kazakhstan” there is very little new under the surface. Instead of a two-chamber parliament dominated by pro-presidential parties, Kazakhstan now has a one-chamber parliament dominated by pro-presidential parties. It can be expected to behave as placidly as past parliaments have, serving to enforce the president’s agenda rather than challenge it. The only constituency that matters resides in Akorda.