Nazarbayev steps down as president of Kazakhstan

AFP

Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev unexpectedly resigned yesterday after three decades in power, saying his oil-rich Central Asian nation now needs “a new generation of leaders.”

Nazarbayev, 78, the last Soviet-era leader still in charge of his country, said he would retain key security council and party leader positions while handing over the presidency to a loyal ally for the rest of his term, which ends in April 2020.

“I have taken a decision, which was not easy for me, to resign as president,” Nazarbayev said in a televised address before signing a decree terminating his powers from today.

“As the founder of the independent Kazakh state, I see my task now in facilitating the rise of a new generation of leaders who will continue the reforms that are under way in the country.”

Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, speaker of the upper house of parliament, will take over as Kazakhstan’s acting president for the remainder of his term in line with the constitution, Nazarbayev said.

Tokayev, 65, is a Moscow-educated career diplomat fluent in Kazakh, Russian, English and Chinese who has previously served as Kazakhstan’s foreign minister and prime minister.

Nazarbayev, a former steel worker who as president helped attract billions of dollars from foreign energy companies, said he would continue to chair the Security Council and remain leader of the Nur Otan party which dominates parliament.

He won 97.7 percent of the vote in the last presidential election in 2015 and has no apparent long-term successor.

Nazarbayev’s government pushed through a number of popular policies in recent months, including raising public-sector salaries and forcing utilities to cut and freeze tariffs, stoking speculation that he was preparing for a re-election bid.

Kazakhstan is scheduled to hold elections next year.