Kazakhstan adopts amendments that eliminate the need to agree with Nazarbayev on the main directions of policy

The Mazhilis of the Parliament of Kazakhstan adopted amendments that cancel the need to coordinate the main directions of domestic and foreign policy with the country’s ex-president Nursultan Nazarbayev. Such a decision sounded during the plenary session of the Majilis.

According changes were suggested Senate of Kazakhstan on January 27 this year. The Senate proposed changing the status of Nazarbayev, enshrined in a law that was passed in 2000. The need to harmonize state policy with it is enshrined in the 2010 amendments.

At the same time, the adopted constitutional law provides for changes to the article of the law “On the First President”, according to which Nazarbayev will not head the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan and the Security Council of the country. The ex-president handed over the powers of the head of the ANC to Kazakh President Tokayev last year, while he lost the post of head of the Security Council during the January protests.

In early January, protests erupted in a number of Kazakh cities and continued for several days. During this time, more than a hundred protesters were killed, and the number of detainees approached the mark of six thousand people. The protests were triggered by a sharp rise in prices for liquefied gas, but subsequently, the people of Kazakhstan began to put forward political demands – in particular, the departure of Nursultan Nazarbayev from politics.

The whereabouts of Nursultan Nazarbayev himself was unknown for a long time. The Sota publication, citing political scientist Arkady Dubnov, wrote that Nazarbayev may be in China. Later Beijing refuted these messages.

On January 18, Nursultan Nazarbayev addressed the nation for the first time regarding the January events. He stated that he had transferred all powers to President Tokayev, while he himself was on a “well-deserved rest” in the capital of Kazakhstan.