NUR-SULTAN -Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev will probably be hoping the approval in a referendum of constitutional amendments he championed will assist him transfer out of his predecessor’s shadow and cement his function as a long-awaited reformer.
Vote outcomes on Monday confirmed convincing help in the day before today’s vote for the amendments that Tokayev has promoted as a basis for a extra democratic social contract within the oil-rich Central Asian nation allied with Russia.
The Central Election Fee mentioned that 77.18% of votes had been in favour of the amendments, which decentralise decision-making and strip former chief Nursultan Nazarbayev of his “nationwide chief” standing. Turnout was 68.06%.
Lengthy prized for political stability by Western buyers who've poured a whole lot of billions of dollars into its power and mining industries, Kazakhstan went by way of a lethal bout of unrest in January, together with an tried coup by high safety officers.
Tokayev didn't touch upon the referendum end result on Monday.
Analysts mentioned the referendum was partially a response to January’s unrest which began as a protest towards a gasoline value enhance and grew right into a broad show of public discontent.
Many Kazakhs have for a number of years been calling for change to a political system that concentrates energy and wealth within the presidency and his associates, analysts say.
“Tokayev understands this and that's the reason, to a sure diploma, he tries to place himself utilizing this referendum as a person who's making an attempt to alter one thing,” political analyst Dosym Satpayev mentioned earlier than the vote.
Tokayev has known as for larger taxes on the profitable extractive industries and high-income people, saying social justice could be the cornerstone of a brand new social contract.
Tokayev proposed the reforms after placing down the coup try, ending the unrest and eradicating his former patron, Nazarbayev, and his kin from necessary positions within the public sector.
The vote signifies that many Kazakhs help the sidelining of Nazarbayev, who ran the nation for 3 many years earlier than giving up the presidency in 2019 and choosing Tokayev as a successor.
Securing home help can even assist Tokayev, a 69-year-old profession diplomat, navigate the Ukrainian disaster which has destabilised Kazakhstan’s economic system and put it in a tough geopolitical place.
Whereas many Kazakhs have welcomed Tokayev’s emergence as chief, some have criticised his determination to ask a Russia-led safety bloc for assist in quelling January’s unrest, placing the Kazakh management in Russia’s debt, within the eyes of many, weeks earlier than it invaded Ukraine.
Western sanctions towards Russia have hit Kazakhstan. The tenge forex plunged nearly as a lot because the Russian rouble did in March earlier than recovering, and logistics have grow to be a lot more durable for Kazakh firms coping with European counterparties.
Tokayev has been very circumspect in commenting on the Ukrainian disaster, though he has urged all sides to behave consistent with the U.N. constitution. On the economic system, he has mentioned his so-called Second Republic imaginative and prescient features a extra simply redistribution of wealth.
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