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.
Kassym-Jomart Kemeluly Tokayev is a Kazakh politician and diplomat who has served as the President of Kazakhstan since 2019. Between 20 March and 12 June 2019, he served as acting president after the resignation of Nursultan Nazarbayev, who had been president for nearly three decades.
Konstantin Fyodorovich Zatulin is a Russian politician, first deputy chairman of the committee of the State Duma for the CIS and relations with Russian nationals abroad. He represents the Sochi constituency.
Grigory Aleksandrovich Tokaev also known as Grigory Tokaty; was a Soviet rocket scientist and politician. Eventually turned anti-communist, he defected to the United Kingdom and became a long-standing critic of Stalin's USSR.
Capital punishment in Kazakhstan was abolished for all crimes in 2021. Until 2021, it had been abolished for ordinary crimes but was still permitted for crimes occurring in special circumstances. The legal method of execution in Kazakhstan had been shooting, specifically a single shot to the back of the head.
Turpal Tokaev is Russian kickboxer and actor of Chechen descent. Also known as Bahadir Sari and Theodore Sariyev, ISKA oriental kickboxing rules heavyweight world champion in 2010.
Jenis Makhmuduly Qasymbek is a Kazakh politician who is currently serving as the Äkım of Astana since 2022.
The Medal "10 years of Astana" is a state award of Kazakhstan. It was first introduced on May 6, 2008, in honor of 10 year anniversary of the city of Astana.
Events of 2019 in Kazakhstan.
Beibut Atamkulov is a Kazakh politician and diplomat currently serving as the Minister of Industry and Infrastructure Development. He served as a Minister of Foreign Affairs from December 2018 to September 2019. Atamkulov has an economic and financial background. Previously, Atamkulov served as the head of the newly created Ministry of Defence and Aerospace Industry of 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.
Maulen Sagatkhanovich Ashimbayev is a Kazakh politician who is serving as a member and chairman of the Senate of Kazakhstan. He served as the First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration from 2019 to 2020, Assistant to the President of Kazakhstan in 2019, First Deputy Chairman of Nur Otan from 2018 to 2019 and member of the Mäjilis from 2016 to 2018.
The Tokayev Cabinet was the 4th government of Kazakhstan under the leadership of Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. It was formed shortly after Prime Minister Nurlan Balgimbayev resigned from his post on 1 October 1999 shortly before the legislative election to become the president of Kazakhoil. President Nursultan Nazarbayev named Kassym-Jomart Tokayev as the Acting Prime Minister, who, prior to that, served as the Deputy Prime Minister as well as the Minister of Foreign Affairs under Balgimbayev's cabinet. On 12 October, the Parliament approved Tokayev's nomination to the post of the PM.
Älihan Ashanuly Smaiylov is a Kazakh politician who served as the prime minister of Kazakhstan from 2022 to 2024.
Acting President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev became the presidential nominee for the ruling Nur Otan on 23 April 2019. He received backing from his predecessor and the party's chairman Nursultan Nazarbayev, calling him the "worthiest candidate." On 3 May 2019, Tokayev was officially registered by the Central Election Commission and from evening 11 May, he launched his election campaign where all the platforms were announced on the website with the slogan "Игілік баршаға".
The 2022 Kazakh unrest, also known as January Events, Bloody January, or the January Tragedy, was a series of mass protests and civil unrest that began in Kazakhstan on 2 January 2022 after a sudden sharp increase in liquefied petroleum gas prices following the lifting of a government-enforced price cap on 1 January. The protests began peacefully in the oil-producing city of Zhanaozen and quickly spread to other cities in the country, especially the nation's largest city, Almaty, which saw its demonstrations turn into violent riots, fueled by rising dissatisfaction with the government and widespread poverty. During the week-long violent unrest and crackdowns, 227 people were killed and over 9,900 were arrested, according to Kazakh officials.
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.
Snap presidential elections were held in Kazakhstan on 20 November 2022 to elect the President of Kazakhstan. This was the seventh presidential election since Kazakhstan's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Incumbent president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, an independent, was re-elected for a second term in a landslide, receiving 81% of the vote. His closest challenger, Jiguli Dairabaev of the Auyl Party, received just 3% of the vote, marking the first time since 2015 that all candidates other than the incumbent president failed to garner 5% or more of the vote. This was the first election since 1999 in which the "against all" option was included on the ballot paper. It received 6% of the total vote. Voter turnout was 69%, the lowest ever in a Kazakh presidential election.
Incumbent president of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev originally announced his candidacy during the State of the Nation Address on 1 September 2022. From there, he also proposed a constitutional change regarding the presidential term office to be extended for a nonrenewable seven-year term. Tokayev was nominated for presidency by the People's Coalition on 6 October 2022, which consisted of several major pro-government political parties and public associations in support. He was officially registered as a candidate on 12 October by the Central Election Commission after garnering a total of 399,809 signatures.
From September 14 to 16, 2022, Chinese President Xi Jinping attends the 22nd meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states in Samarkand, and pay state visits to the Republic of Kazakhstan and Uzberkistan at the invitation of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Tokaev and the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Mirziyoyev.
