The president, who has led the former Soviet republic since 1989, pledged to set up a working group that would draw up the corresponding proposals. The group will involve government officials, parliamentary members, lawyers, political and constitutional law experts.
"The group must prepare specific proposals on amending and supplementing the country's Constitution and laws," Nazarbayev told a government commission on democratic reforms.
The Kazakh leader, who has drawn criticism in the West for clamping down on democracy, proposed to transfer a number of presidential functions to parliament, such as establishing the Constitutional Council and the Central Election Commission.
"It is time to consider parliamentary majority support as a pre-condition for approving prime ministerial candidates," the president said adding that parliament will thereby share responsibility for the Cabinet's work.
Nazarbayev also said budgetary oversight must become parliament's responsibility. He proposed that the number of senators be increased, by selecting new senators from the members of the Peoples' Assembly of Kazakhstan, a consultative body under the president.
He backed the proposal to fund political parties that overcame the threshold in parliamentary elections from the country's budget. "This is a reasonable measure, introduced in many countries," the leader said.
But he also called for maintaining the system of checks and balances in the course of reforms. "We must work out measures to maintain the influence of both the president and parliament," Nazarbayev said.
He said the proposals prepared by the working group would be submitted to parliament or put to vote at a referendum.
