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Elections in Kazakhstan: the "Magnificent" Seven – Each About His Own

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Elections in Kazakhstan: the Elections in Kazakhstan: the "Magnificent" Seven – Each About His Own In the coming days, early presidential elections will be held in Kazakhstan. For the first time since the country’s independence, the surname “Nazarbayev” will not be on the presidential ballot. The full registered candidates turned out to be seven people, including the current president, the first female presidential candidate, a communist, two national patriots, an agricultural official and a trade union official. Follow us on LinkedIn After the death of Islam Karimov, Nursultan Nazarbayev for two and a half years remained the last post-Soviet head of state, who came to power in the Soviet era. The authorities have been talking about the future transit of power for the last one and a half year, and about government’s preparation for elections since the autumn of 2018. On March 19, President Nursultan Nazarbayev addressed the nation live, announcing the resignation of presidential powers. According to the country’s Constitution, the speaker of the upper house of parliament follows next in the constitutional hierarchy. Already on March 20, Senate Speaker Kasym-Zhomart Tokayev was sworn in and became the second president of Kazakhstan. It should be noted that, according to the Constitution of Kazakhstan, the president, who took the position in case of the predecessor’s resignation, “stays up” the entire term of the forerunner. The next elections were to be held on December 6, 2020, and Tokayev could have been president until that time. However, on April 9, by now president Tokayev was broadcasting live to the nation. He reported that he made a decision to hold an early presidential election on June 9, 2019. The election campaign began immediately. In Kazakhstan there is no right to self-promotion, only political parties and republican public associations have the right to nominate candidates for the presidency. The relevant amendments were made to the Constitution a few years ago. Nomination of candidates Elections in Kazakhstan: the "Magnificent" Seven – Each About His Own Candidates for the Presidency of the Republic of Kazakhstan 2019. Photo: cabar.asia The ruling “Nur Otan” party, led by ex-president Nazarbayev, has nominated Kassym- Zhomart Tokayev. The right-wing “Ak Zhol” party decided not to nominate its chairman and held the primaries, where Daniya Espaeva won with 49% of the votes. The leader of Communist People’s Party of Kazakhstan also did not go: the Communists nominated the secretary of the party, Zhambyl Ahmetbekov, who has already been running for presidency before. Party “Auyl” nominated former deputy minister of agriculture Toleutay Rahimbekov. At the same time, the opposition United Social Democratic Party at its congress voted to boycott the elections and its new chairman Yermurat Bapi was forced to withdraw his candidacy. Furthermore, public associations went into action. The Federation of Trade Unions of Kazakhstan has nominated its chairman Amangeldy Taspihov, the movement “Uly dala Kyrandary” nominated Sadigbek Tugel. By the main event of the campaign on nominating candidates became – support of the figure in opposition Amirjan Qosanov by “Ult tagdyry” movement. Former deputy of parliament Zhumatai Aliyev also wanted to join the list of candidates, but he could not pass the state language proficiency test. The candidates had time until May 10 to collect 120 thousand signatures in their support. All coped with the task ahead of time. On May 10, candidates began the pre-election Elections in Kazakhstan: the "Magnificent" Seven – Each About His Own campaigning. By the way, it is allowed only in these few weeks before the vote, to start campaigning a day earlier would be a violation for which one could lose the status of a presidential candidate. First of all, candidates published their election agendas. After reading them, there is a feeling that the pre-election field is specially designed to reflect the classic political situation with some Kazakhstani special aspects. So, the construction is as follows: communist Akhmetbekov on the left, candidate from the party of entrepreneurs – Espaeva on the right, the current president – candidate from the ruling party Tokayev acts as a centrist. The candidate from “Auyl” Rakhimbekov appeals to the rural areas, the trade union candidate Taspikhov appeals to the working class. There are two national-patriotic candidates: the moderate liberal opposition leader Qosanov and the quite radical supporter of the “steppe democracy” – Tugel. The “Magnificent” seven !function(){“use strict”;window.addEventListener(“message”,function(a){if(void 0!==a.data[“datawrapper-height”])for(var e in a.data[“datawrapper-height”]){var t=document.getElementById(“datawrapper-chart- “+e)||document.querySelector(“iframe[src*='”+e+”‘]”);t&&(t.style.height=a.data[“datawra pper-height”][e]+”px”)}})}(); To begin, let’s talk about how the candidates for president of Kazakhstan position themselves. The current president, Kassym- Jomart Tokayev, positions himself as a faithful ally and successor to the cause of ex-President Nursultan Nazarbayev. It is easy to believe that in three decades of joint work, Tokayev understood and accepted the first president’s value picture of the world. In his Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. Photos: ca-news.org program, Tokayev places special emphasis on the continuity of government and following the strategic course of “Elbasy”. That is why, by his first decree in a new position, Tokayev renamed the capital of Kazakhstan, Astana, to Nur-Sultan. Under Nazarbayev, many different strategic documents were adopted for the years ahead. Tokayev intends to preserve and implement all these programs. The only thing that distinguishes him from Nazarbayev so far is the requirement not to put his portraits on the streets of Kazakhstan cities. Tokayev was nominated by Nazarbayev’s party “Nur Otan”, Nazarbayev himself at the pre-election congress urged party members to rally around the Tokayev figure. Elections in Kazakhstan: the "Magnificent" Seven – Each About His Own Amirjan Qosanov, at one time was the press secretary of Prime Minister Akezhan Kazhegeldin, who at the turn of the century was forced to leave Kazakhstan. Qosanov stayed in the country, engaged in journalistic and civic activities. He was a member of the opposition United Social Democratic Party, however, as a result of an internal conflict, was expelled from it. Qosanov is popular in Amirjan Qosanov. Photo: national-patriotic circles, and he does not hide his sympathy for fergana.agency some ideas of the national-patriotic movement. Qosanova is positioned as the main opposition candidate who should become the spokesman for the protest electorate. After the announcement of early presidential elections, it was supposed that the chairman of the opposition parliamentary party “Ak Zhol”, Azat Peruashev will be nominated. However, Peruashev refused to participate and held primaries. In the first round, 49% of the votes were taken by Dania Espaeva. The leadership of “Ak Zhol” decided not to hold the second round of the primaries, by giving Espaeva a victory “for a clear advantage.” One of the main tenors in Espaeva’s nomination is that, – she is the first female presidential candidate in the country’s history. Dania Espaeva. Photo: However, the party program was adopted at the “Ak Zhol” congress yunews.kz before the nomination: everything is mainly about protecting the entrepreneurial class and developing small and medium businesses with a minimum of redistribution of wealth through taxes and social assistance. It was expected that, the people’s communist party will be nominated by its parliamentary leader, Aikyn Konurov. But Konurov, who is not characterized by a good knowledge of the state language (at the election congress he made a brief speech exclusively in Russian), refused to run for presidency. Party secretary, Jambyl Akhmetbekov, was nominated. He has already run for presidency in 2011, back then scored 1.36% of the vote. He claims that in this cycle he hopes for the best, since over the past years he realized a lot, he became better; including achievement of black belt in karate. Jambyl Akhmetbekov. Photo: knpk.kz Elections in Kazakhstan: the "Magnificent" Seven – Each About His Own Toleutai Rakhimbekov, nominated by the “Auyl” party, previously held the position of deputy akim in Karaganda region and vice minister of agriculture. In other words, he is quite an experienced business manager specializing in the development of agro-industrial complex. Positions himself as a defender of the rural areas’ interests, where 42% of the population of Kazakhstan lives. Толеутай Рахимбеков. Фото: agroinfo.kz “Laborite”, Amangeldy Taspikhov also has a specific specialization: he intends to protect the rights of the working class. As head of the Trade Unions Federation, he intends to introduce an extensive list of measures into the labor legislation, which will increase labor safety and ensure fair pay Amangeldy Taspikhov. for it. Photo: sputnik.kz Sadibek Tugel on his political orientation is closest to Amirjan Qosanov. However, he is not shy about promoting the ideas of the national-patriotic bias. It offers rather radical measures to restructure Kazakhstan and turn it into a socially just ethnocracy. Programs of the candidates: each about his own Let’s consider candidates’ programs, comparing them on a few key directions. First: economics and taxation. Sadibek Tugel. Photo: !function(){“use tengrinews.kz strict”;window.addEventListener(“message”,function(a){if(void
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