The former president of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, has expressed on Sunday his support for the current president, Kasim Yomart Tokayev, candidate for re-election in the presidential elections this Sunday despite signs that pointed to a rift between the two.
«To whom did I voluntarily hand over power? Yes, you know? Then I chose and I will keep this choice until the end», Nazarbayev has affirmed in declarations to the press picked up by the Russian news agency Interfax.
«Our people now need unity. Of course, there is independence. The state and the capital were built under my command, but much remains to be done. For this, the unity of the people around the president is necessary (…). I hope the people understand this,» he added.
He has also described as «fair» the six-year prison sentence imposed on his nephew, Kairat Satibaldiuli, for corruption offenses. «The judicial system is the one that decides», he has underlined, thus attacking the speculations of a possible retaliation of Tokayev, who has stripped Nazarbayev of positions and honors in the last months.
Also on trial, in this case on charges of high treason, is the head of the secret services during Nazarbayev’s time, Karim Masimov. «I am also very interested in this. I am waiting for the end of the investigation and trial to understand the cause of everything and who is behind it,» Nazarbayev said.
As of 4 p.m., 62.34 percent of the electorate had voted, a spokeswoman for Kazakhstan’s Central Election Commission, Anastasia Shchegortsova, was quoted as saying by the portal inform.kz.
SEVEN-YEAR MANDATE Tokayev came to power in 2019 and has relieved his predecessor at the head of the National Security Council, the Peoples’ Assembly and the government party, Nur Otan. He has also removed several of the former president’s relatives from their posts.
He is now aiming for a seven-year presidential term following the constitutional amendment that increases the presidential term from two to five years. The other five presidential candidates have no chance of winning.
Kazakhstan faces a reform process following a major wave of protests over rising fuel prices in early 2022 that were violently suppressed and eventually contained with the deployment of a Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) contingent.
