Legislative branch:
bicameral Parliament consists of the Senate (47 seats; 15 members are appointed by the president; other members are elected by local assemblies; members serve six-year terms, but elections are staggered with half of the members up for re-election every three years) and the Mazhilis (107 seats; 9 out of the 107 Mazhilis members are elected by the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan, a presidentially appointed advisory body designed to represent the country's ethnic minorities; non-appointed members are popularly elected to serve five-year terms)
elections: Senate - (indirect) last held October 2008; next to be held in 2011; Mazhilis - last held 18 August 2007 (next to be held in 2012)
election results: Senate - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - Nur Otan 16; Mazhilis - percent of vote by party - Nur-Otan 88.1%, NSDP 4.6%, Ak Zhol 3.3%, Auyl 1.6%, Communist People's Party 1.3%, Patriots Party .8% Ruhaniyat .4%; seats by party - Nur-Otan 98; note - parties must achieve a threshold of 7% of the electorate to qualify for seats in the Mazhilis
Judicial branch:
Supreme Court (44 members); Constitutional Council (seven members)
Political parties and leaders:
Adilet (Justice) [Maksut NARIKBAYEV, Zeynulla ALSHIMBAYEV, Serik
ABDRAHMANOV, Bakhytbek AKHMETZHAN, Yerkin ONGARBAYEV, Tolegan
SYDYKOV] (formerly Democratic Party of Kazakhstan); Agrarian and
Industrial Union of Workers Block or AIST (Agrarian Party and Civic
Party); Ak Zhol Party (Bright Path) [Alikhan BAIMENOV]; Alga
[Vladimir KOZLOV] (unregistered); Auyl (Village) [Gani KALIYEV];
Azat Party (formerly True Ak Zhol Party) [Bolat ABILOV]; Communist
Party of Kazakhstan or KPK [Serikbolsyn ABDILDIN]; Communist
People's Party of Kazakhstan [Vladislav KOSAREV]; National Social
Democratic Party (NSDP)[Zharmakhan TUYAKBAY]; Nur-Otan [Bakhytzhan
ZHUMAGULOV] (the Agrarian, Asar, and Civic parties merged with
Otan); Patriots' Party [Gani KASYMOV]; Rukhaniyat (Spirituality)
[Altynshash ZHAGANOVA]
Political pressure groups and leaders:
Adil-Soz [Tamara KALEYEVA]; Almaty Helsinki Group [Ninel FOKINA];
Confederation of Free Trade Unions [Sergei BELKIN]; For Fair
Elections [Yevgeniy ZHOVTIS, Sabit ZHUSUPOV, Sergey DUVANOV, Ibrash
NUSUPBAYEV]; Kazakhstan International Bureau on Human Rights
[Yevgeniy ZHOVTIS, executive director]; Pan-National Social
Democratic Party of Kazakhstan [Zharmakhan TUYAKBAI]; Pensioners
Movement or Pokoleniye [Irina SAVOSTINA, chairwoman]; Republican
Network of International Monitors [Dos KUSHIM]; Transparency
International [Sergei ZLOTNIKOV]