The decree rests on article 49 §3 of the constitution and on the constitutional law on the president. Article 49 says the vice-president is appointed by the president with the consent of a majority of all Kurultai deputies, may not sit in a representative body, hold another paid post, run a business or belong to a political party, and «on the instruction of the President» represents him before the Kurultai, the government and other state bodies, plus «other powers determined by the President». Saturday's decree is those other powers, written out.
Point 1 needs no instruction. The vice-president «ensures the development of and presents to the President initiatives of a strategic nature in the field of the state's domestic and foreign policy». Points 2 and 3 return to it: representation before the Kurultai, the government, state bodies, political parties, public associations and international organisations, and participation in international events, both «on the instruction of the President».
The constitution makes the vice-president the successor; Saturday's decree makes him, until that day, a delegate.
Points 4 to 6 are portfolios. He heads the Secretariat of the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, the Astana interfaith forum. The Kazakhstan Institute of Strategic Studies under the President comes under his supervision. He «ensures the activity» of seven bodies: the Commission on State Awards, the Commission on Citizenship, the Republican Commission on State Symbols and the heraldry of departmental awards, the Republican Commission on Training Cadres Abroad, the al-Farabi state prize commission for science and technology, the Abai state prize commission for literature and the arts, and the Council on Youth Policy. Point 7 is other powers, on instruction.
The rights section gives him directives to issue, instructions to central and local executive bodies «on matters within his competence», a seat at sittings of the Kurultai, the government, the Qazaqstan Halyq Kenesi and the presidential consultative bodies, the right to request documents from state bodies and officials, and interagency working groups to draft presidential acts. Point 3 of the decree settles the staff question: organisational, legal, informational and analytical support comes from the Presidential Administration. The decree creates no vice-presidential apparatus.
Why the office matters is in article 51. If the president resigns, is removed, dies or becomes lastingly unable to serve, «the powers of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan pass to the Vice-President»; the chair of the Kurultai is next in line and the prime minister after him. The Kurultai then announces an election within 7 days, the vote follows within 2 months, and the stand-in may neither initiate constitutional amendments nor dissolve the chamber. The constitution makes the vice-president the successor; Saturday's decree makes him, until that day, a delegate.
That is a design choice with a logic. A vice-president holding executive functions of his own would be a second centre in a system the new constitution builds around one. What Karin holds instead is a reserve of legitimacy without a claim on the machinery: he attends the government's sittings and does not chair them, he instructs ministries within a competence the president defines, and his commissions confer awards, citizenship, scholarships and prizes, the state's distributive ceremony.
Compare the two appointments of 31 August. Olzhas Bektenov, the prime minister, completed a 24-name cabinet in 4 days. Karin's first week produced a decree defining what he may do. The cabinet has ministries; the vice-president has the Administration's staff on loan. Where new capacity was added in the same fortnight is visible in a third document: the Security Council received an apparatus of its own, with a secretary, a first deputy and two deputies, and Aida Balayeva as deputy chair.
Three things will show how the office is used. Whether the «strategic initiatives» of point 1 appear as documents under Karin's name. Whether the Kurultai, which consented to his appointment by majority, hears him in the chamber otherwise than on a presidential instruction. And whether the seven commissions acquire a public rhythm now that a constitutional officer answers for them.
The term runs to 2029. Article 51 is written for the day it does not, and decree No. 1452 is written for every day before that.