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Protests in Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan passes bill to abolish Nazarbayev’s lifelong chairmanship at Security Council

Nursultan Nazarbayev is the first president of Kazakhstan (1991-2019)

Nursultan Nazarbayev Valery Sharifulin/TASS

Nursultan Nazarbayev

© Valery Sharifulin/TASS

NUR-SULTAN, January 19. /TASS/. The Mazhilis, the lower house of Kazakhstan’s parliament, on Wednesday approved amendments that abolish lifelong chairmanship of the country’s first president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, in the Security Council and Kazakhstan People’s Assembly, said Snezhanna Imasheva, a Mazhilis deputy.

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"These amendments were introduced by deputies," she said, Tengrinews reported. "You know perfectly well that that’s a done deal that the head of the state will head the assembly <…> and the Security Council."

"There’s nothing extraordinary about it to have a discussion," she went on to say.

Nazarbayev, who turned 81 in July 2021, is the first president of Kazakhstan (1991-2019). In March 2019, he resigned as president. His successor as the head of state was Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. Nazarbayev then retained the posts of the head of the country's Security Council, as well as a member of the Constitutional Council of Kazakhstan and chairman of the Nur Otan (Light of the Fatherland) party.

In April 2021, Nazarbayev decided to transfer to Tokayev the powers of the head of the KPA, which he had headed since March 1995. After the meeting of the political council of the Nur Otan party held in November 2021, it was reported that Nazarbayev decided to transfer the powers of the chairman of the party to Tokayev. According to the charter, the election and dismissal of the chairman are within the competence of the party’s congress. The power to convene a party congress is vested in its political council. The date of the next congress has not yet been announced. Nur Otan is the largest party in Kazakhstan, with over 835,000 members.

In an address to the nation published on January 18, Nazarbayev said that Tokayev has full power, is the head of the Security Council, and will soon be elected chairman of the Nur Otan party.

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