Tokayev wins first election since Nazarbayev’s departure from politics

Early presidential elections were held in Kazakhstan, in which Kassym-Jomart Tokayev won for the second time. According to the results of the exit poll, 85.52% of voters supported him, RIA Novosti reports. Turnout was 69.5%.

As an alternative, there were five candidates and the column “Against all”. The head of the farmers’ association Zhiguli Dayrabaev received 2.67% of the vote, public figure Karakat Abden – 2.61%, economist Meiram Kazhyken – 2.43%, representative of the opposition National Social Democratic Party Nurlan Auesbaev – 1.93%, human rights activist Saltanat Tursynbekova – 1.44%. The option “Against all” was chosen by 3.4% of voters.

Tokayev proposed to vote ahead of schedule (they were supposed to take place in 2024), addressing the people on September 1. At the same time, he put forward an initiative to leave the head of state the opportunity to be in office for only one seven-year term.

Following protests in Alma-Ata on March 21, Tokayev announced the construction of a “new Kazakhstan.” On June 5, a referendum passed constitutional amendments that, according to Tokayev, will help the country move “from a super-presidential form of government to a presidential republic with an influential parliament and an accountable government.” At the same time, all references to ex-president Nursultan Nazarbayev were removed from the main law.

IMEMO expert Stanislav Pritchin says the election was “a political technological reset of the system” and Tokayev’s “truly independent” attempt to secure legitimacy, if you do not take into account the referendum held in the summer. Holding elections in a regular mode in 2024 would carry risks for Tokayev, due to the fact that they are scheduled for this time in Russia, which means that electoral processes would be synchronized, the expert notes.

In foreign policy, Tokayev promised to continue the previous course aimed at developing relations simultaneously with different players. “Taking into account the geostrategic position of Kazakhstan, taking into account the fact that more than $300 billion is involved in our economy, given that the largest transnational world companies operate in our market, we are simply obliged to pursue a multi-vector foreign policy,” Tokayev said.