Nursultan Abishuly Nazarbayev is a Kazakh politician who served as the first President of Kazakhstan, from the country's independence in 1991 until his formal resignation in 2019, and as the Chairman of the Security Council of Kazakhstan from 1991 to 2022.
The politics of Azerbaijan take place in an authoritarian system where elections are not free and fair, political opponents are repressed, civil rights are limited, human rights abuses are widespread, corruption is rampant, and power is concentrated in the hands of President Ilham Aliyev and his extended family.
The Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan oversees a presidential republic. The President of Kazakhstan, currently Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, is head of state and nominates the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, the head of government. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of parliament.
A snap election is an election that is called earlier than the one that has been scheduled. Generally, a snap election in a parliamentary system is called to capitalize on an unusual electoral opportunity or to decide a pressing issue, under circumstances when an election is not required by law or convention. A snap election differs from a recall election in that it is initiated by politicians rather than voters, and from a by-election in that a completely new parliament is chosen as opposed to merely filling vacancies in an already established assembly. Early elections can also be called in certain jurisdictions after a ruling coalition is dissolved if a replacement coalition cannot be formed within a constitutionally set time limit.
Kassym-Jomart Kemeluly Tokayev is a Kazakh politician and diplomat who has served as the President of Kazakhstan since March 20, 2019.
The Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan is the bicameral legislature of Kazakhstan. The lower house is the Mäjilis, with 98 seats which are elected to five-year terms. The upper house is the Senate, which has 50 members.
Elections in Kazakhstan are held on a national level to elect a President and the Parliament, which is divided into two bodies, the Majilis and the Senate. Local elections for maslihats are held every five years.
The President of the Republic of Kazakhstan is the head of state of the Kazakhstan and the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The president is the holder of the highest office within the Republic of Kazakhstan. The powers of this position are described in a special section of the Constitution of Kazakhstan.
Presidential elections were held in Kazakhstan on 4 December 2005. Incumbent president Nursultan Nazarbayev, in power since 1989, sought and won a 3rd term against four other candidates. Opposition candidates were allowed some access to the mass media, but this was still restricted. According to western election observers, opposition candidates also suffered considerable harassment. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) criticized the elections, calling them unfair, but noted improvements.
The Senate of Kazakhstan is the upper house of two chambers in Kazakhstan's legislature, known as the Parliament (Parlamenti). The Senate is composed of elected members: two from each region and two from three municipalities which are Almaty, Astana, and Shymkent.
Amanat, known as Nūr Otan until 2022, is a political party in Kazakhstan. It has been the ruling party of the country since 1999, and claimed a membership over 762,000 people in 2007. Amanat has been led by Erlan Qoşanov since 26 April 2022.
The 2007 amendment to the Constitution of Kazakhstan modified Kazakhstan's basic law, on May 18, 2007. The changes followed the conclusion of the activities of the 'State Commission on Democratization' formed two years previously.
Early presidential elections were held in Kazakhstan on 3 April 2011, having been originally scheduled for 2012. The elections were called after a plan for holding a referendum to increase president term limits to 2020 was rejected by the Constitutional Council. Nazarbayev was re-elected for a fourth term with 95% of the vote and a 90% turnout, against three nominal candidates. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has complained about a lack of transparency and competition in the vote.
Snap presidential elections were held in Kazakhstan on 26 April 2015 to elect the President of Kazakhstan. This was the fifth presidential election held and second without having any formal opposition candidates. With the highest-ever nationwide turnout of 95.2%, the result was a victory for long-term incumbent President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Nur Otan who received 97.8% of the vote, the largest since 1991, thus winning a fifth term in office while his closest challenger, Turgyn Syzdyqov, received only 1.6% of the votes.
Events of 2019 in Kazakhstan.
Snap presidential elections were held in Kazakhstan on 9 June 2019 to elect the President of Kazakhstan following the resignation of long-term President Nursultan Nazarbayev in March 2019. This was the sixth presidential election held since Kazakhstan's independence. The elections were not free and fair, and were widely denounced as a sham. Acting president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of Nur Otan won the election.
The Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan of the 7th convocation was a convocation of the Parliament of Kazakhstan from 2021 to 2023.
Events of 2022 in Kazakhstan.
A constitutional referendum in Kazakhstan, locally called the Republican referendum, was held on 5 June 2022. It was the third referendum since Kazakhstan's independence in 1991, and the first since the 1995 referendum that established the current constitution. The amendments followed violent civil unrest in early January caused by worsening economic conditions and subsequent calls for rapid political reform. The referendum changed 33 of the document's 98 articles. Political commentators assessed that amendments would lessen the influence of the executive branch, grant more powers to the Parliament, and eliminate the powers that former president Nursultan Nazarbayev had retained after resigning from office in 2019.
The first inauguration of Kassym-Jomart Tokayev as the president of Kazakhstan took place on Wednesday, 12 June 2019, at the Independence Palace in Nur-Sultan. The event marked the formal commencement of President Tokayev's five-year term, following a historic and peaceful transition of power for the first time in Kazakhstan's history. This transition occurred after Tokayev emerged victorious in the 2019 presidential election, succeeding Nursultan Nazarbayev, who resigned from office in March 2019. Prior to his inauguration, Tokayev had served as acting president.
