European Forum

Kazakhstan on its way to extend president’s term until 2020

A group collecting signatures in support of a referendum to extend the term of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev's states that more than half the country's eligible voters have backed the plan so far. Last month the idea of this referendum was raised by the self-styled "initiative group" of Nazarbaev supporters. The group started collecting signatures in early December 2010.

On the 23rd of December the group had collected the 200,000 signatures needed for the referendum to be held, after which they officially registered their request with the Central Election Commission. The group continues to collect signatures as they believe this would make the initiative more convincing. On the 29th of December 2010 both houses of the Kazakh parliament backed the proposal

The proposed referendum would extend the term of Nazarbaev, which is set to expire in 2012, until 2020. Nazarbaev has been Kazakhstan’s leader since 1989. An earlier referendum already amended the constitution in such a way that there is no limit to the number of terms Nazerbaev can serve as president.

Rejection of Nazerbaev
On the 7th of January it was announced that Nazarbaev himself rejected the idea of extending his term. Critics of the president dismissed the move as a tactic to boost the democratic image of the president. As opposition politician Serikbolsyn Abdildin argues: “Nazarbaev will be hailed for turning down the referendum as someone great and wise who doesn’t want to undermine election rules”.

Some Kazakh analysts do not rule out the possibility that the parliament would still go ahead with a plan to extend Nazarbaev’s rule. Accordingly, the parliament has already enforced laws that were officially rejected by the president. For example, in May 2010 Nazarbaev officially rejected an initiative granting him the status of "leader of the nation." However, as he did not veto the bill, it eventually came into force and granted him and his family privileges and immunity from prosecution. It is possible that the same scenario could happen with the prolongation of Nazarbaev's term in office.

Protest
On the 6th of January several small protests were held in various Kazakh cities to oppose the planned referendum. During these protests several demonstrators were detained by the police

Several days later another protest was held in front of the offices of the pro-presidential  Nur-Otan party in Almaty. During the protest several activists were simulating a mock ‘burial of democracy’. Eventually the police intervened and detained all the participants of the protest.

Meanwhile, Kazakh bloggers are checking the legitimacy of the collected signatures in support of the referendum, as some questions have been raised about the methods used by the pro-presidential initiative group. Accordingly, they have already uncovered "dozens" of violations that suggest people were coerced into signing the petition.

In a statement, the U.S. Embassy in Kazakhstan said Washington believes that a national referendum to replace the presidential elections guaranteed by Kazakhstan's constitution would be a "setback for democracy in Kazakhstan."

Sources: RFE/RL; Photo: Google images