Kazakhstan’s New Unicameral Kurultai Convenes as Adilet Takes 110 of 145 Seats

Kazakhstan's new single-chamber parliament began work on Friday, completing a constitutional overhaul that replaced the country's bicameral legislature.

The first session of the Kurultai of the first convocation began on 28 August in Astana, marking the start of work for the country's new unicameral legislature.

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev had signed a decree convening the session for 11am, according to the Akorda presidential press service. The 145-member body was established under Kazakhstan's new Constitution, which took effect on 1 July.

The election result

The first parliamentary election under the new constitutional system was held on 23 August, five days before the chamber convened.

Five political parties cleared the statutory 5% threshold required to secure seats. The Adilet Party took the largest share of the vote and holds 110 of the 145 seats. The Auyl People's Democratic Patriotic Party holds 10, and Respublica nine.

That distribution gives a single party more than three-quarters of the chamber.

What changed constitutionally

The shift from a bicameral to a unicameral legislature is a structural change to how Kazakhstan legislates.

Under the previous system, Kazakhstan operated a two-chamber parliament comprising the Mazhilis and the Senate. The new Constitution consolidates legislative authority into the single 145-member Kurultai — a name drawn from the historical assemblies of the Turkic and Mongol steppe.

Consolidating two chambers into one removes a revising stage from the legislative process. Whether that produces faster lawmaking or less scrutiny depends on how the new chamber operates in practice, and the first session is where its procedures are established.

The economic backdrop

The new legislature convenes as Kazakhstan navigates an unusual combination of currency strength and export disruption.

The tenge has gained roughly 9.7% against the dollar in 2026, making it among the strongest-performing currencies in Europe and Asia, driven by foreign investment into tenge-denominated government bonds at a policy rate held at 18% since October 2025. Non-resident holdings have risen from about $2 billion to $5 billion over the past year.

Against that, the Caspian Pipeline Consortium — which exports around 80% of Kazakh oil — was shut down for a week following Ukrainian drone attacks on 17 and 19 July, renewing questions about the country's energy security and export dependence.

Growth is also expected to slow. After a 2025 outturn revised up to between 6.0% and 6.5% on expanded Tengiz production, Halyk Finance forecasts 4.5% for 2026 against a government projection of 5.4%.

What to watch

The chamber's leadership and committee structure will be set in the opening sessions, and those choices indicate how the Kurultai intends to function.

The second is the legislative programme. A single chamber with a dominant party can move quickly, and the tax, tariff and fiscal reforms already flagged by the National Bank as inflation risks will pass through it.

The third is the two remaining parties. Adilet, Auyl and Respublica account for 129 seats between them; the allocation of the remaining 16 across the other two parties that cleared the threshold has not been confirmed here.