Legislative elections were held in Kazakhstan on 23 August 2026 to elect all 145 members of the Kurultai of the 1st convocation. It was the 10th legislative election since Kazakhstan's independence in 1991 and the first election to the country's new unicameral legislature established by the 2026 Constitution. Turnout was 74.2%, making it the highest turnout recorded in a national vote in Kazakhstan since the 2026 referendum and the highest turnout in a legislative election since 2016.
The new constitution, approved in a constitutional referendum, provided for the dissolution of the previous bicameral Parliament of Kazakhstan and established the Kurultai as the country's highest representative body. It entered into force on 1 July 2026, on which day President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed a decree calling the legislative election for 23 August. The vote also marked the return of party-list proportional representation under the new electoral system for the first time since the 2021 legislative elections.
The campaign was contested by seven political parties and focused primarily on socio-economic and governance issues. Major campaign issues included living standards, taxation and the minimum wage; inflation and the rising cost of essential goods; economic and industrial development, including regional growth and labour productivity; and the implementation of the new constitutional and parliamentary system.
Ahead of the election, press freedom organizations reported increasing pressure on independent journalists, including arrests, criminal investigations, travel bans and restrictions on journalistic activity. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe said the elections were "technically well prepared" but took place in an environment lacking political pluralism, with limited political alternatives and restrictions on independent candidates, civil society and media.
The newly formed pro-presidential Ädilet party, the successor to Amanat, won the election with 71.2% of the vote, followed by the Auyl with 6.3%, Respublica with 5.6%, the Aq Jol with 5.2%, and the Nationwide Social Democratic Party (JSDP) with 5.1%. The People's Party of Kazakhstan (QHP) and Baytaq failed to reach the 5% electoral threshold, with the QHP losing parliamentary representation for the first time since it entered the parliament in the 2012 legislative elections.
On 28 August 2026, the newly elected Kurultai convened for its first session, where Tokayev nominated Aibek Dädebai as chairman, and deputies subsequently elected him unanimously. The government, led by Prime Minister Oljas Bektenov, also resigned, with its members continuing to perform their duties until a new government was formed. On 31 August, Tokayev nominated Bektenov for reappointment as prime minister, with the Kurultai approving the nomination and Tokayev subsequently appointing him to the position.
Background
The 8th Parliament of Kazakhstan convened following the 2023 legislative elections to the lower house Mäjilis, which were called after President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev dissolved the 7th Parliament as part of the final stage of the political reset of state institutions that followed the 2022 Kazakh unrest. The elections were held under a reintroduced mixed electoral system approved in the 2022 constitutional referendum, the first such system used since 2004. Amanat (formerly Nur Otan) won a majority of 62 seats, though reduced compared to previous convocations, and the new composition of the Mäjilis included independent deputies elected from single-member districts, representatives of the self-declared opposition Nationwide Social Democratic Party, and first-time parliamentary entrants Auyl and Respublica, bringing in a total of six party factions.
From there, at the opening session of the 8th convocation, Erlan Qoşanov (Amanat) was re-elected as chairman of the Mäjilis, and the Parliament approved the reappointment of Älihan Smaiylov as prime minister of Kazakhstan. During its tenure, the 8th convocation of the Parliament of Kazakhstan served as the final bicameral legislature before the transition to the unicameral Kurultai, adopting legislation on social policy, economic regulation, digitalization, and institutional reforms while overseeing the final stage of Tokayev's post-2022 reform agenda, including constitutional law amendments implementing the transition to the new parliamentary system, before concluding its work on 30 June 2026.
Discussions about a possible further constitutional amendments and snap parliamentary election emerged in 2024; however, in January 2025, during an interview with the newspaper Ana tili, president Tokayev publicly denied plans for any snap elections, including parliamentary ones, stating that the 8th Parliament of Kazakhstan would serve its full term and that elections would be held in accordance with the law.
Despite Tokayev ruling out early elections, ongoing discussions about future constitutional reforms, including proposals to abolish the Senate, speculation persisted about snap parliamentary elections with social activist Qazbek Beisebaev noting that any changes to parliament would first require constitutional amendments or a referendum before snap election, and while the current parliament is generally loyal to the government, other political actors might seek to renew the legislature for strategic purposes. In June 2025, chairman of the Senate Mäulen Äşimbaev acknowledging rumours of early parliamentary elections allegedly taking place in autumn of that year, stated that there were no grounds to expect such elections.
2026 constitutional reforms
In September 2025, during his State of the Nation Address, Tokayev announced proposed parliamentary reforms, including a constitutional amendment to abolish the Senate and transform the Parliament of Kazakhstan into a unicameral legislature elected by party-list, suggesting that the change be decided through a referendum sometime in 2027. The announcement was followed by six-month span with the establishment of a working group and later a constitutional commission tasked with drafting amendments. During its work, the commission concluded that the scope of proposed amendments exceeded initial expectations and ultimately endorsed adopting a new constitution, which its draft was finalized in February 2026 and subsequently submitted by Tokayev to a referendum.
The referendum "Yes" vote campaign was organized under the National Coalition "For the People's Constitution of a Fair and Progressive Kazakhstan", bringing together pro-government political parties and public organizations in support of the draft constitution, which proposed restructuring Kazakhstan's legislative system ahead of the transition to the newly unicameral Kurultai. The referendum campaign took place in a restrictive political environment marked by reported pressure on opponents and critics of the draft constitution, censorship, limits on independent polling, and rejected legal challenges, with social media users referring to the draft constitution as "sour cream" to avoid crackdown. The proposal was officially approved by 87% of voters, with Tokayev issuing a decree adopting the new constitution on 17 March 2026, which entered into force on 1 July 2026.
Under the previous constitutional framework, the 8th convocation of the Mäjilis, elected in March 2023, would have served its five-year constitutional term. Under Article 51 of the 1995 Constitution, regular elections to the Mäjilis were required to be held within the two months preceding the expiration of deputies' term, meaning that absent constitutional changes the next legislative elections would have been expected in early 2028. However, the constitutional reforms initiated in 2025 fundamentally altered the structure and electoral timetable of the legislature. Although Tokayev initially proposed holding a referendum on parliamentary reform in 2027, the adoption of a new constitution in 2026 and the transition to a unicameral Kurultai required the dissolution of the existing bicameral system and the organization of early elections to form the new legislature.
Following the approval of the new constitution, the Parliament adopted a series of seven constitutional laws to implement the new state structure. The foundational laws on the presidency, Kurultai, and People's Council were signed by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on 5 June 2026, while amendments to existing constitutional laws, including changes affecting the electoral framework and political parties, were signed on 11 June 2026.
Minimum wage increase proposal In the lead-up to the 2026 elections in Kazakhstan, economic concerns such as inflation, rising utility costs, and declining real incomes became a key issue in public debate, despite continued official references to macroeconomic growth. Against this backdrop, the Kazakh government's April 2026 proposal to raise the national minimum wage from 85,000 to 150,000 tenge emerged as a prominent socio-economic pledge, with First Vice Minister of National Economy Azamat Amrin linking it to a target of bringing minimum wages closer to 50% of median income. However, Minister of Labour and Social Protection Asqarbek Ertaev later clarified that the proposal remained under review, with no finalized methodology, budget decision, or implementation timeline, ruling out near-term adoption.
Analysts interpreted the timing of the announcement amid preparations for the new unicameral Kurultai as carrying a clear pre-election dimension, with political scientist Daniyar Ashimbayev describing the proposal as having a "pre-election theme" and a populist character that signaled responsiveness to public concerns over living standards while functioning more as a politically salient promise than an immediate policy commitment, in a context where parliamentary elections are generally viewed as less politically destabilizing and where protest sentiment is often expected to be absorbed within pro-government parties.
Party system reorganization The Ädilet party was announced in April 2026 by political activists, public figures, business representatives, and members of the Constitutional Commission amid Kazakhstan's post-referendum political restructuring following the adoption of a new constitution. The party emerged ahead of the 2026 legislative elections as a centrist, pro-presidential political force supporting the state's reform agenda.
Its rapid registration, prominent leadership, and close association with the constitutional reform process prompted extensive political commentary. Analysts characterized Ädilet as part of a broader reconfiguration of Kazakhstan's party system following the constitutional reforms, with some describing it as a move toward a more competitive multi-party or quasi two-party system and suggesting that it could reshape the distribution of pro-presidential and centrist voters ahead of the elections. Political scientist Andrei Chebotarev described Ädilet as a potential "sparring partner" to ruling Amanat party, while other observers viewed the party as an attempt to project political renewal within the existing political framework. The significance of Ädilet increased substantially following the 26th Amanat Extraordinary Congress on 12 June 2026, at which Amanat approved its merger into Ädilet. The merger ended Amanat's 27-year existence as an independent political party and transformed Ädilet into the institutional successor to the former ruling party ahead of the legislative elections.