Page 17 - bne_newspaper_June_29_2018

Eurasia
June 29, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 17
Senate speaker suggests Kazakhstan’s Nazarbayev won’t run in 2020 election
Nizom Khodjayev in Almaty
Speaker of the Kazakh senate Kasym-Jomart Tokayev suggested during a June 20 appearance on the BBC’s HARDtalk that President Nursultan Nazarbayev will not run in Kazakhstan’s 2020 presidential election.
Nazarbayev took the helm of the country two years’ before it gained its independence in 1991 and turns 78 in two weeks’ time. In the last elec- tion he faced, in 2015, the official result gave him 98% of the vote, although many observ-
ers take issue with whether or not elections in Central Asia’s economically dominant nation offer real choice or are free and fair. The succes- sion question centred on “Leader of the Nation” Nazarbayev has gained sharper focus since
the death in September 2016 of Uzbek autocrat Islam Karimov at the age of 78. He, like Naz- arbayev, had ruled his country since 1989. Politi- cal risks stemming from the lack of a clear plan for a successor to Nazarbayev have constrained S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings’ debt rat- ings on Kazakhstan. It does not help that ru- mours of Nazarbayev’s deteriorating health tend to spring up in the news nearly every year.
“Frankly speaking, I do not believe Nazarbayev will run in the 2020 presidential election. He is
a very wise and reasonable person... I think we will have a presidential election with other candi- dates in 2020,” Tokayev told the BBC programme.
“This is my personal opinion, but of course it is up to President Nazarbayev whether to run in
Speculation that Nazarbayev could step down is mounting but the succession question has not been resolved.
the elections or not,” he added. Tokayev himself did not provide a clear answer when asked if he himself might run for president.
“I want to say that even if President Nazarbayev does not become president of this country [again in the next elections], he will [still maintain] im- mense influence on internal and foreign policy... it is very important that Kazakhstan will be as stable as it is now,” Tokayev noted.
In 2010, the Kazakh parliament passed a law giving him the official Leader of the Nation title. Kazakhstan has also erected a number of monu- ments featuring the Kazakh autocrat and named a prestigious school network and a university after him.
If Nazarbayev stepped down, he would likely ensure that all the levers of power still remained in his hands behind the scenes. He has already taken some steps in this direction.
The upper house of parliament on May 31 ap- proved draft amendments allowing Nazarbayev to lead Kazakhstan’s Security Council for life, while changing the status of the body from con- sultative to constitutional. The draft bill has already been approved by the lower house and it is expected to be signed into law by Nazarbayev. The legislation is seen by some as an attempt to ensure Nazarbayev maintains his grip on power in the event that he moves aside. While the new legislation might be a failsafe for the president,