The Constitutional Council () was a collective body of constitutional

jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' and 'speech' or 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, the concept of jurisdiction applies at multiple level ...

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

until June 2022. It was succeeded in January 2023 by the

Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ru ...

Structure

The Constitutional Council consisted of seven members. The Chair and two members of the council were appointed by the

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

and two members each by the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

and the Mäjilis. Members serve for terms of six years. In addition to the appointed members, any former Presidents of Kazakhstan are lifetime members of the Constitutional Council. The Council was established by the 1995 Constitution which replaced the

. The decision of the Constitutional Council in whole or in part may be objected to by the President, which can be overturned by two-thirds of the votes of the total number of members of the Constitutional Council. According to the amendments made to the 2017 Constitution, the right of the president's objection is canceled. Only the President, Chairman of the Senate, Chairman of the Mäjilis, at least one fifth of the total number of

deputies A legislator, or lawmaker, is a person who writes and passes laws, especially someone who is a member of a legislature. Legislators are often elected by the people, but they can be appointed, or hereditary. Legislatures may be supra-nati ...

of the Parliament, the Prime Minister were allowed to appeal to the Council, as well as the lower courts in a case of infringement of

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

and freedoms and citizen normative legal acts.

Jurisdiction

The Constitutional Council considered all decisions made and laws passed by the Mäjilis, as well as

international treaties A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between sovereign states and/or international organizations that is governed by international law. A treaty may also be known as an international agreement, protocol, covenant, conventi ...

to ensure they are compliant with the constitution. Rulings on new laws are made prior to them being signed by the president.Section VI. The Constitutional Council
The Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan The court also ruled on election disputes.

Powers

The former powers of the Council included: * verify the correctness of the elections of the President of the Republic, deputies of parliament and the conducting of republican referendum *verify the compliance of the Constitution of laws adopted by the Parliament prior to their signing by the President *verify the compliance of the Constitution of decisions taken by the Parliament and its chambers *verify the compliance of the Constitution of International Contracts before their ratification *give the official interpretation of the norms of the Constitution *give conclusions when adopting amendments to the Constitution.

References

Government of Kazakhstan Judiciary of Kazakhstan

Constitutional law

Courts and tribunals established in 1995 1995 establishments in Kazakhstan 2023 disestablishments in Kazakhstan {{asia-law-stub