Afghanistan Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bhutan Bolivia (Plurinational State of) Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cabo Verde Cambodia Cameroon Canada Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Congo Costa Rica Côte d'Ivoire Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czechia Democratic People's Republic of Korea Democratic Republic of the Congo Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Eswatini Ethiopia Fiji Finland France Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Greece Grenada Guatemala Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Honduras Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran (Islamic Republic of) Iraq Ireland Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Micronesia (Federated States of) Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria North Macedonia Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Qatar Republic of Korea Republic of Moldova Romania Russian Federation Rwanda Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka State of Palestine Sudan Suriname Sweden Switzerland Syrian Arab Republic Tajikistan Thailand Timor-Leste Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Türkiye Turkmenistan Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland United Republic of Tanzania United States of America Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) Viet Nam Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe
Kazakhstan
Women in decision-making positions
23%
Members of local deliberative bodies are women (786 elected women)
No woman is Head of State/Government
18%
Parliamentarians are women
14%
Ministers are women

Government organization

Spheres of government

Kazakhstan is a unitary republic with two spheres of government: central and local.

One tier of central government and one or two tiers of local government.

  • Head of State: The President of the Republic is directly elected by voters.
  • Head of Government: The Prime Minister is appointed by the President of the Republic, after receiving the consent and approval of the Majilis.
  • Legislative body: Parliament is a bicameral legislature, with an upper house (the Senate) and a lower house (the Majilis). In the Senate, 15 members are appointed by the President of the Republic and 32 are elected by the sub-national deliberative bodies. In the Majilis, 98 members are directly elected by voters and nine members are elected by the directly elected members of the Majilis.
  • Executive body: The Government is composed of the Prime Minister and ministers proposed by the Prime Minister to be appointed by the President of the Republic.

  • Organization: Local government is organized into one or two tiers. In the single-tiered system of local government, there are the two cities of republic significance, the City of Almaty and the City of Nur-Sultan. In the two-tiered system of local government, there is an upper tier of 14 regional-level local government units and a lower tier of 38 cities of regional significance and 177 district-level local government units.
  • Competencies: Local government is responsible for approving plans, the local budget, and social and economic programs for the development of the territory, managing public property, and adopting decisions and resolutions.

Overview of local government

Local government composition

Deliberative body: The regional maslikhat (in regions), the Almaty maslikhat (in the City of Almaty), and the Nur-Sultan maslikhat (in the City of Nur-Sultan) are composed of 50 elected members. A representative of the maslikhat is elected by and from the maslikhat to preside over it; the representative is not vested with executive powers.

Executive body: An akim is directly elected to be the executive at the regional level of government.

Deliberative body: City maslikhats are composed of up to 30 elected members; district maslikhats are composed of up to 25 elected members. A representative of the maslikhat is elected by and from the maslikhat to preside over it; the representative is not vested with executive powers.

Executive body: An akim is directly to be the executive at the district/city level of government.

Local government elections

Electoral system for deliberative bodies: proportional representation

  • Deputies of maslikhats shall be elected by party lists nominated by political parties in a territorial constituency. There is a 5% threshold to the obtention of seats.
  • The order of distribution of deputy mandates shall be determined by the governing body of the relevant branch (representative office) of a political party from among the candidates included in the party list no later than five days from the date of publication of the election results.

Electoral system for executive bodies: majority/plurality (first-past-the-post)

Source: Law on Elections, 1995 (amended through 2020), articles 9, 21 and 111-1

Gender quotas: Legislated candidate quotas, sanctions  

  • In each constituency-based list, the number of women and persons under the age of twenty-nine must be at least thirty percent of the total number of candidates.
  • Lists that violate the rules of submission will not be registered. They have seven days to appeal to a higher election commission.

Additional quotas: Youth

  • In each constituency-based list, the number of women and persons under the age of twenty-nine must be at least thirty percent of the total number of candidates.
  • Lists that violate the rules of submission will not be registered. They have seven days to appeal to a higher election commission.

Source: Law on Elections, 1995 (amended through 2021), article 104

  • Term length: 5 years
  • Last local elections: 2021
  • Next local elections: 2026

Central Election Commission; territorial election commissions; precinct election commissions

National legal framework on local government

  • Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan, 1995 (amended through 2019);
  • Law on Local Government and Self-Government, 2001 (amended through 2022);
  • Law on Elections, 1995 (amended through 2021).

There are constitutional provisions that establish local government in Kazakhstan. According to Articles 86 and 87 of the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan of 1995 (amended through 2019), “local representative bodies - maslikhats - shall express the will of the population of respective administrative-territorial units and with regard to the common public interests shall determine the measures needed for its realization and control their implementation. Local executive bodies shall be a part of a unified system of the executive bodies of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and ensure conduct of the general state policy of the executive power in conjunction with the interests and development needs of the respective territory.”

Parliament is responsible for establishing the national legal framework on local government. The key piece of legislation which regulates local government is the Law on Local Government and Self-Government of 2001 (amended through 2020), which ultimately regulates the relations in the field of local government and self – government and determines the competence, organization, procedure of activity of local representative and executive bodies as well as the legal status of deputies of Maslikhats.

Sources:

1. UN Women: Data on share of women in local government as of 1 January 2025.

2. UN Women: Information on Head of State and Government as of 1 December 2025.

3. Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU): Data on share of women in the single/lower chamber of parliament as of 1 January 2025.

4. UN Women: Data on share of women Cabinet ministers as of 1 January 2025.

5. Information on local government organization as of 1 January 2023.