In connection with the end of the term of office of the Senators who were elected in 1995 for a 4 year term, reelections took place on 17 September 1999, where the Senators were elected for 6 year term. The Senators elected in 1997 continued serving in the 2nd convocation until December 2002. On 21 May 2007, amendments to the Constitution of Kazakhstan were adopted. The number of Senators appointed by the President of Kazakhstan increased from 7 to 15. On 29 August 2007, by a presidential decree, 8 new Senators were appointed, thus the number of seats in the Senate increased from 39 to 47. In June 2018, the city of Shymkent became a municipality, which led to a Senate election in the City Mäslihat on 5 October 2018. As a result, the number of senate seats was increased from 47 to 49. In May 2019, the status of "Honorary Senator" was established, which was awarded to the first President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev for "his outstanding contribution to the formation of the constitutional and legal foundations of the Republic of Kazakhstan as a democratic, secular, legal and social state, as well as to the formation and development of domestic parliamentarianism." Electoral system Out of the 50 members of the Senate of Kazakhstan, 40 are indirectly elected for six years by delegates from the 17 provinces and three national cities. They're not elected all at once : twenty are elected every three years, one per province and city. Senators represent every region and city. The remaining 10 are nominated by the president, among which half on the proposal of the People's Assembly. Powers of the Senate Joint sessions of Senate and Mazhilis According to the Constitution and the Constitutional law "On the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan" the Parliament at joint sessions of the Chambers shall: make amendments and additions to the Constitution at the proposal of President of the Republic of Kazakhstan; approve the reports of the Government and the Accounts Committee on implementation of the republican budget. If the parliament doesn’t approve Government’s report on implementation of the republican budget, it means a motion of no-confidence vote by the Parliament against the Government; have the right to delegate legislative powers for a term not exceeding one year to the President by two-thirds of the votes from the total number of deputies of each Chamber at the