Khadisha Aqaeva is a correspondent for RFE/RL's Kazakh Service.
A Kazakh bill would require workers and employers to pay more for health insurance for those earning higher wages. But the underfunded, corruption-ridden health system has not improved since the new plan was first introduced four years ago, and anger is growing.
Residents of Aqtoghai, a settlement of 6,000 people in northeastern Kazakhstan, thought they had voted for a new and independent leader in one of many local elections taking place this fall. What happened next says much about the government's "democratic experiment" in the provinces.
Ethnic Karakalpaks in Kazakhstan say their community has come under scrutiny since the 2022 protests in their homeland -- Uzbekistan's Karakalpak region -- over Tashkent's plan to limit its autonomy. Many diaspora members were interrogated, others had their asylum requests refused.
