Sep. 21 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The president of Kazakhstan, Kassim-Jomart Tokayev, has approved this Wednesday a decree to call early presidential elections on November 20, after the approval in a referendum held in June of a package of constitutional amendments.
“As head of state, I will guarantee that the electoral campaign strictly adheres to the law,” said Tokayev, who has assured that the elections “will be held in a fair and open manner” and “with a broad participation of national and international observers” , according to the Kazinform news portal.
“This will allow us to focus on tackling long-term tasks in the future and guarantee sustainable economic growth, improve the well-being and quality of life of citizens,” explained Tokayev, who in September announced that the elections would be held in autumn of this year, instead of in 2024, when they were planned.
Kazakhstan is facing a process of reforms after the major wave of protests over rising fuel prices in early 2022 that were violently suppressed and finally contained with the deployment of a contingent from the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), headed for Russia.
Thus, Tokayev raised a query in April so that the reforms to the Constitution proposed by Parliament would obtain social support, so that package finally came into force last June after being voted positively by 77 percent of Kazakh citizens. .
The amendments will strengthen the defense of Human Rights in the country, according to the authorities, as well as restore the Constitutional Court and open the way to abolishing the death penalty. On the other hand, it deprives former President Nursultan Nazarbayev of the honorary position of “leader of the nation” after his resignation in 2019.
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