Kazakhstan’s new unicameral parliament, the Kurultai, gathered for its first session today. On August 23 the all-but-ordained Adilet party triumphed over an array of officially sanctioned opposition parties, winning a thumping 71 percent of the vote in the first election after Kazakhstan’s March constitutional revamp.

According to the Central Electoral Commission, which registered new legislators in an official ceremony on August 27, Adilet will have 110 deputies of a possible 145 sitting in the new body, likely led by presidential advisor-turned-party leader Aibek Dadebay. 

As for its legislative agenda, all signs indicate that the Kurultai will largely pick up where the old parliament left off. Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev spent the last week plotting a roadmap for the incoming Kurultai, and his to-do list is grounded in long-standing governmental priorities. 

On August 27, for example, citing the example of “several well-developed countries,” Tokayev said he planned to ask Kurultai deputies to consider banning social media for children under the age of 16, in what will essentially be a continuation of a bill submitted to parliament in June, according to local independent media outlet Vlast.kz. 

In a similar vein, speaking at an educators’ conference on August 26, Tokayev called on the government to take more urgent measures to implement his May presidential decree on the introduction of artificial intelligence into the national education system. The directive came as part of the country’s Year of Artificial Intelligence program, itself a continuation of the broader strategy on AI launched in 2025 following the creation of the Ministry of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development. 

Amid these more conventional proposals, Tokayev’s most interesting comments arguably came during  an appearance at a polling station on August 23 — and not only because he rebuked his compatriots for hugging and kissing in contravention of the country’s “time-honored traditions,” and called on Kazakhstani men to instead shake hands “firmly,” not like a “warm cutlet or a twig.” 

Speaking after casting his ballot, Tokayev also suggested that Kazakhstan needed to be “turned into a major building site,” and proposed transferring significant amounts of money from the National Fund to spur this drive for development, a policy hastily confirmed by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Economy Serik Zhumangarin at a briefing on August 25. 

According to Zhumangarin, Kazakhstan’s government is set to withdraw nearly 12 trillion tenge ($26.2 billion) from the National Fund, the country’s sovereign wealth fund, despite pledging last summer to scale down transfers through 2028 to reduce the national budget’s dependence on oil revenues. (Kazakhstan’s National Fund is largely financed by revenues generated from the country’s oil and other extractive industries, with a portion of these revenues saved and invested for future generations.)

This too, however, equates to picking up where previous governments left off. As Kazakhstani political scientist Daniyar Ashimbayev wrote, “the National Fund has for years been actively misappropriated for unclear purposes,” with the state dipping into the reserve to inject money into the economy, “without concerning itself with the wisdom of such spending.” 

What this all means is that the change in form promised by Kazakhstan’s new parliament does not appear to be matched by a change in its function. The Kurultai may have a number of new politicians taking their seats today, but the policies, practices, and priorities shaping the country’s politics remain largely unchanged.