Erlan Jaqanūly Qoşanov (, ; born 14 August 1962), sometimes romanized as Yerlan Koshanov, is a Kazakh politician who is serving as the member and

chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...

of the

Mäjilis The Mäjilis of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan (; ), commonly shortened as Mäjilis or Mazhilis ( Kazakh Cyrillic: Мәжіліс , 'Assembly'), is the lower house of the Parliament of Kazakhstan, alongside the upper house Senate ...

since 2022. Prior to that, he served as the Aqorda Chief of Staff under

Kassym-Jomart Tokayev Kassym-Jomart Kemeluly Tokayev (born 17 May 1953) is a Kazakhstani politician and diplomat who has served as the second president of Kazakhstan since 2019. He previously served as Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, Prime Minister from 1999 to 2002 ...

's administration from 2019 to 2022, äkim of

Karaganda Region Karaganda Region (; ) is a region of Kazakhstan. Its capital is Karaganda. The region borders Akmola and Pavlodar Region to the north, Abai Region to the east, Jetisu, Almaty, and Zhambyl Regions to the south, and Kostanay and Ulytau regio ...

from 2017 to 2019 and the head of the Prime Minister's Office from 2012 to 2017. As a member of the ruling Amanat party, Qoşanov since 2022 has headed the party following Tokayev's brief leadership in response to

Nursultan Nazarbayev Nursultan Abishuly Nazarbayev (born 6 July 1940) is a Kazakhstani politician who served as the first president of Kazakhstan from 1991 to 2019. He also held the special title of Elbasy from 2010 to 2022 and chairman of the Security Council of ...

's resignation after leading the formerly Nur Otan party. While serving as deputy, Qoşanov headed the Amanat

parliamentary group A parliamentary group, parliamentary caucus or political group is a group consisting of members of different political party, political parties or independent politicians with similar ideologies. Some parliamentary systems allow smaller politic ...

in the lower house Mäjilis during the 7th convocation until its dissolution in 2023. Since then, Qoşanov continued serving in the 8th convocation of the Mäjilis as the chairman following his re-election to the post in March 2023.

Biography

Early life and education

Qoşanov was born in the village of Aqsu-Aiuly,

. In 1984, he graduated from the Dzhezkazgan Branch of the Karaganda State Technical University with a degree in mechanical engineering and then in 1991, from the Higher Commercial School at the

All-Russian Academy of Foreign Trade All-Russian Academy of Foreign Trade of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation (RFTA) (, ВАВТ Минэкономразвития России) is the only university which is subordinate to the Ministry of Economic Dev ...

. In 1999, Qoşanov graduated from the

Narxoz University Narkhoz University ( ; ) is a university in Almaty, Kazakhstan. It offers courses in economics, business, finance, and law. The University was founded in 1963 as Almaty Institute of National Economy and received its current name in 2016. It ...

with a degree in economics. He also served in the ranks of the

Soviet Army The Soviet Ground Forces () was the land warfare service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces from 1946 to 1992. It was preceded by the Red Army. After the Soviet Union ceased to exist in December 1991, the Ground Forces remained under th ...

Early career

From 1986 to 1988, Qoşanov worked as a mechanic, then as a foreman at the Dzhezkazgantsvetmet concentration plant. In 1988, he became an instructor of the Dzhezkazgan Regional Committee of the Lenin Communist Youth Union of Kazakhstan. From 1990, Qoşanov was the leading, chief specialist, head of department, deputy chairman, and then the chairman of the Jezkazgan Regional Committee for Wind Farm.

Political career

In 1995, he became the Secretary of the Jezkazgan Regional Committee of the Democratic Party of Kazakhstan and in December 1995, Qoşanov was elected as a member of the

Senate of Kazakhstan The Senate of Kazakhstan (, ''Қазақстан Парламентінің Сенаты'', ) is the upper house of two chambers in Kazakhstan's legislature, known as the Parliament (''Parlamenti''). The Senate is composed of elected members: ...

. He served the post until he was appointed as a representative of the

Government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

in the

Parliament of Kazakhstan The Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan is the bicameral legislature of Kazakhstan, consisting of the upper house, the Senate, and the lower house, the Mäjilis. Both chambers conduct legislative sessions at the Parliament House in the cap ...

in February 1999. From November 2001 to June 2003, Qoşanov was the Deputy Head of the Prime Minister's Office until he was appointed as Vice Minister of Transport and Communications of the Republic of Kazakhstan. In February 2006, he was appointed as the Chairman of the Civil Aviation Committee of the Ministry of Transport and Communications. From 2007, he served as the Deputy Head of the Prime Minister's Office and a representative of the Government in the Mazhilis. On 2 February 2012, Qoşanov was appointed as the head of Prime Minister's Office. He served the post until he was appointed as the äkim of

on 14 March 2017. From 18 September 2019, he worked as chief of staff in the

Presidential Administration of Kazakhstan The Executive Office of the President or the Presidential Administration of the Republic of Kazakhstan (; ) is an executive office of the President of Kazakhstan, established in accordance with Presidential Decree No. 2565 of Nursultan Nazarbayev o ...

under

Chairman of the Mäjilis (2022–present)

Following resignation of

Nurlan Nigmatulin Nurlan Zairollauly Nigmatulin (, , born 31 August 1961) is a Kazakh politician who served as the Chairman of the Mäjilis from 22 June 2016 to 1 February 2022 and from 20 January 2012 to 3 April 2014. Prior to that, he headed the Presidential A ...

as the Mäjilis chairman, Qoşanov became a deputy of Mäjilis for the lower house Parliament and was subsequently elected as the new chairman of the chamber on 1 February 2022. Qoşanov's nomination was proposed by Nur Otan MP Erlan Sairov who noted his experience in many fields including legislation while Qoşanov himself at the hearing thanked the support, stressing that President Tokayev's proposed reforms is "is our common task." On 14 February 2022, Qoşanov was elected as the

parliamentary leader A parliamentary leader is a political title or a descriptive term used in various countries to designate the person leading a parliamentary group or caucus in a legislature, legislative body, whether it be a national or sub-national legislature. ...

Nur Otan Amanat (; ; officially stylized in all caps), previously known as Nur Otan (; ), is a Ruling party, ruling List of political parties in Kazakhstan, political party of Kazakhstan and the largest political association in the country, with around 8 ...

. From there, he stressed that the party should be actively involved in its transformation by fully contributing to increasing the effectiveness to carry out the presidential course of reforms. He also instructed for the Mäjilis to strengthen the quality of legislative activity, increase the relevance of lawmakers' requests, and strengthen interaction with the Nur Otan Central Office on analytics and work in the regions. Since April 26, 2022, he has been appointed chairman of the Amanat party. On March 29, 2023, he was re-elected chairman of the

of the

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Qoşanov, Erlan 1962 births Living people Chairmen of the Mäjilis People from Karaganda Region Nur Otan politicians Members of the Senate of Kazakhstan Narxoz University alumni