Section I. General Provisions
Article 1
1. The Republic of Kazakhstan proclaims itself as a democratic, secular, legal and social state whose highest values are a person, his life, rights, and freedoms.
2. The fundamental principles of the activity of the Republic are public concord and political stability; economic development for the benefit of all the nation; Kazakhstani patriotism and resolution of the most critical issues of State affairs by democratic methods including voting by national referendum or in Parliament.
Article 2
1. The Republic of Kazakhstan is a unitary state with a presidential form of government.
2. The sovereignty of the Republic shall cover the whole of its territory. The state shall ensure the integrity, inviolability, and inalienability of its territory.
3. The law shall determine the administrative-territorial division of the Republic and the status of its capital. The Capital of Kazakhstan is the city of Astana.
3-1. Within the city of Astana, a special legal regime can be established in the financial sphere in accordance with the constitutional law.
4. The names "Republic of Kazakhstan" and "Kazakhstan" shall be equal.
Article 3
1. The people shall be the only source of governmental power.
2. The people shall exercise power directly through national referendum and free elections, as well as delegate the execution of their ability to state institutions.
3. Nobody shall have the right to arrogate the power in the Republic of Kazakhstan. Arrogation of authority shall be prosecuted by law. The right to act on behalf of the people and the state shall belong to the President, as well as to the Parliament of the Republic within the limits of the constitutional powers. The government and other state bodies shall act on behalf of the state only within the limits of their delegated authorities.
4. The state power in the Republic of Kazakhstan shall be unified and executed on the basis of the Constitution and laws in accordance with the principle of its division into the legislative, executive and judicial branches, and a system of checks and balances, which governs their interaction.
Article 4
1. The provisions of the Constitution, the laws corresponding to it, other regulatory and legal acts, international agreements and other commitments of the Republic, as well as regulatory resolutions of the Constitutional Council and the Supreme Court of the Republic, shall be the functioning law in the Republic of Kazakhstan.
2. The Constitution shall have the highest juridical force and direct effect on the entire territory of the Republic.
3. International agreements ratified by the Republic have primacy over its laws. The legislation of the Republic determines the procedure and conditions of operation of international agreements in the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan to which Kazakhstan is a party.
4. All laws and international agreements, where the Republic is a party, shall be published. Official publication of regulatory and legal acts, dealing with the rights, freedoms, and responsibilities of citizens shall be the necessary condition for their application.
Article 5
1. The Republic of Kazakhstan shall recognize ideological and political diversity. The formation of political parties in state bodies shall not be permitted.
2. Public associations shall be equal before the law. Illegal interference of the state in the affairs of public associations, and public associations in the affairs of the state, imposing the functions of state institutions on public associations shall not be permitted.
3. Formation and functioning of public associations pursuing the goals or actions directed toward a violent change of the constitutional system, violation of the integrity of the Republic, undermining the security of the state, inciting social, racial, national, religious, and tribal enmity, as well as the formation of unauthorized paramilitary units shall be prohibited.
4. Activities of political parties and trade unions of other states, religious parties, as well as the financing of political parties and trade unions of foreign legal entities and citizens, foreign states and international organizations shall not be permitted in the Republic.
5. Activities of foreign religious associations on the territory of the Republic, as well as the appointment of heads of religious associations in the Republic by foreign religious centers shall be carried out in coordination with the respective state institutions of the Republic.
Article 6
1. The Republic of Kazakhstan shall recognize and protect state and private property equally.
2. Property shall impose obligations, and its use must simultaneously benefit the society. Subjects and objects of ownership, the scope, and limits of the rights of proprietors, and guarantees of their protection shall be determined by law.
3. The state shall own the land and underground resources, waters, flora and fauna, and other natural resources. The land may also be privately owned on terms, conditions and within limits established by law.
Article 7
1. The state language of the Republic of Kazakhstan shall be the Kazakh language.
2. Russian language shall be officially used on equal grounds along with the Kazakh language in state institutions and local self-administrative bodies.
3. The state shall promote conditions for the study and development of the languages of the people of Kazakhstan.
Article 8
The Republic of Kazakhstan shall respect principles and norms of international law, shape policy of cooperation and good-neighbourly relations between states, their equality and non-interference in each other’s domestic affairs, peaceful settlement of international disputes and renounce the [first] use of military force.
Article 9
The Republic of Kazakhstan shall have its state symbols - the flag, emblem, and the anthem. The constitutional law shall establish their description and order of official use.
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