{"faq_id":"200daa90-a7b7-4ef1-ab88-e26944a5e666","code":"constitution-history-1993","kind":"faq","canonical_slug":"constitution-history-1993","section":{"id":19,"code":"history","slug":"history","title":"History"},"lang":"en","question":"What the 1993 Constitution Was","short_answer":"The 1993 Constitution was the first Constitution of independent Kazakhstan. It established the legal foundations of sovereignty and marked the transition from the Soviet legal order to a national constitutional system. It remained, however, a transitional document and was soon superseded by a more stable constitutional model.","blocks":{"answer_html":"<h2>Historical role</h2>\n<p>After independence, Kazakhstan needed a new legal foundation for its statehood. In that context, the Constitution adopted on <strong>January 28, 1993</strong> became the first full Constitution of independent Kazakhstan.</p>\n<p>It:</p>\n<ul>\n<li>affirmed sovereignty</li>\n<li>laid the foundations of a national legal order</li>\n<li>established basic rights and freedoms</li>\n<li>defined the first structure of state institutions</li>\n</ul>\n<h2>Why it was a transition document</h2>\n<p>The 1993 Constitution reflected a period of transformation. Kazakhstan was moving away from the Soviet system, but many institutional ideas were still in formation.</p>\n<p>Its main features included:</p>\n<ul>\n<li>a transition-era political design</li>\n<li>incomplete clarification of relations between branches of power</li>\n<li>institutional experimentation typical of a new state</li>\n<li>a constitutional model that had not yet fully stabilized</li>\n</ul>\n<h2>Why it did not remain in force for long</h2>\n<p>The 1993 Constitution played an important role, but practice soon showed its limits:</p>\n<ul>\n<li>the balance of powers was not yet fully settled</li>\n<li>state-governance mechanisms required greater clarity</li>\n<li>political and economic changes demanded a more stable institutional design</li>\n</ul>\n<p>These factors contributed to the need for a new constitutional framework in 1995.</p>\n<h2>Its legacy</h2>\n<p>The 1993 Constitution remains historically important because it:</p>\n<ul>\n<li>marked the beginning of independent constitutional statehood</li>\n<li>opened the first stage of Kazakhstan’s constitutional development</li>\n<li>prepared the ground for the 1995 Constitution</li>\n</ul>\n<p>It was important not because it was final, but because it fulfilled the task of the transition period.</p>\n","facts_html":"<ul>\n<li>The 1993 Constitution was adopted on January 28, 1993</li>\n<li>It was the first Constitution of independent Kazakhstan</li>\n<li>It was a transition-era constitutional document</li>\n<li>It laid the foundation for the 1995 constitutional model</li>\n</ul>\n","what_not_change_html":"","where_detailed_html":"","misconceptions_html":""},"updated_at":"2026-06-16T00:00:00+00:00","article_refs":[{"number":1,"title":"State Foundations"},{"number":4,"title":"Popular Sovereignty"},{"number":5,"title":"Constitution and Applicable Law"}],"entity_links":[{"type":"constitutional_article","number":1,"label":"Article 1","title":"State Foundations","href":"/full-text?lang=en#article-1"},{"type":"constitutional_article","number":4,"label":"Article 4","title":"Popular Sovereignty","href":"/full-text?lang=en#article-4"},{"type":"constitutional_article","number":5,"label":"Article 5","title":"Constitution and Applicable Law","href":"/full-text?lang=en#article-5"}],"source_records":[{"id":"constitution-1995-gov-archive","type":"historical_legal_text","url":"https://www.gov.kz/uploads/2020/2/11/92594e9ba28352a961ca421505b4b79a_original.146163.pdf","title":"Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan of 1995 (official archive publication)","publisher":"Gov.kz","checked_at":"2026-07-16","reviewed_at":"2026-07-19","checked_at_label":"16 July 2026"},{"id":"akorda-constitutional-documents","type":"official_publication","url":"https://www.akorda.kz/ru/official_documents/constitution","title":"Official constitutional documents","publisher":"Akorda","checked_at":"2026-07-16","reviewed_at":"2026-07-19","checked_at_label":"16 July 2026"}],"verified_claims":[],"implementation_status":null,"source_schema_records":[{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan of 1995 (official archive publication)","url":"https://www.gov.kz/uploads/2020/2/11/92594e9ba28352a961ca421505b4b79a_original.146163.pdf","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Gov.kz"},"dateModified":"2026-07-16"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Official constitutional documents","url":"https://www.akorda.kz/ru/official_documents/constitution","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Akorda"},"dateModified":"2026-07-16"}],"source_citation_urls":["https://www.gov.kz/uploads/2020/2/11/92594e9ba28352a961ca421505b4b79a_original.146163.pdf","https://www.akorda.kz/ru/official_documents/constitution"]}