President of Kazakhstan

President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Қазақстан Республикасының Президенті Qazaqstan Respublikasynyñ Prezidentı
Presidential standard
Incumbent Kassym-Jomart Tokayev since 20 March 2019
Residence	Ak Orda Presidential Palace
Appointer	Direct popular vote
Term length	5 years, renewable once.
Inaugural holder	Nursultan Nazarbayev
Formation	24 April 1990
Succession	Chairperson of the Senate of Kazakhstan
Salary	20,400 USD 7,876,032.18 KZT[1][2]
Website	(in Kazakh) akorda.kz (in English) www.akorda.kz/en

Politics of Kazakhstan
CIS Member State
Constitution Human rights President (list) Kassym-Jomart Tokayev Prime Minister Askar Mamin Security Council Chairman Nursultan Nazarbayev Parliament Senate Chair Mäulen Äşimbaev Mazhilis Chair Nurlan Nigmatulin Political parties Recent elections Presidential 2011 2015 2019 Parliamentary 2007 2012 2016 Administrative divisions Regions (oblıstar) Districts (audandar) Foreign relations Visa policy
Other countries
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The president of the Republic of Kazakhstan (Kazakh: Қазақстан Республикасының Президенті, Qazaqstan Respublikasynyñ Prezidentı; Russian: Президент Республики Казахстан) is the head of state, commander-in-chief and holder of the highest office within the Republic of Kazakhstan. The powers of this position are described in a special section of the Constitution of Kazakhstan.

The position was established on 24 April 1990, a year before the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The current president is Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who assumed office on 20 March 2019 following the resignation of the first president, Nursultan Nazarbayev.^[3]

None of the presidential elections held in Kazakhstan have been considered free or fair by Western standards^[4] with issues noted including ballot tampering, multiple voting, harassment of opposition candidates and press censorship.

Symbols[]

The president of Kazakhstan's decorations include a breast mark and a Presidential Standard.

Presidential Standard[]

The Standard of the President of Kazakhstan is similar to the national flag in that it is rectangular in shape with a ratio of 1:2. In the center of the standard is the Emblem of Kazakhstan. It is bordered on three sides with golden fringe.^[5][6]

The current presidential standard has been in service as recently as 2012. The former standard, which was used from 1995–2012, was a light blue rectangle there with a golden circle in which the figure of the young Kazakh leader Sakas riding a snow leopard.

Altyn Qyran Order[]

The Order of the Golden Eagle (Kazakh: Алтын Қыран ордені or Altyn Qyran Order) is the highest civilian award that can be awarded by the president of Kazakhstan. Its purpose is to recognize outstanding service to the country by Kazakh and foreign citizens. As head of state, the president is de facto Commander special class of the Order of Altyn Kyran.^[7][8]

President in the Constitution[]

Item 5 of Article 42 of the Constitution determines that no one can be elected president more than two terms in a row, but it also states that "The present restriction shall not extend on the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan." ^[9]

Article 46 says that the president's "honor and dignity shall be inviolable" and that his expenses shall be paid by the state. Item 4 of the article outlines the special status and authority of the first president, and refers to a special constitutional act for definitions.^[9] According to this act, the first president possesses total, absolute and termless immunity for all actions he performs while in office, and that he remains a government official until his death. He also retains the ability to speak to the people of Kazakhstan, keeps guards, communication, transport, and state support of his activity, and that his official apartment and summer residence became his property with official maintenance. He is also provided with medical care, sanatorium, pensions and insurance.

On April 26, 2015, Nursultan Nazarbayev was re-elected for his 5th presidential term.^[10] The official ceremony of the inauguration took place at the Palace of Independence in Nur-Sultan on April 29.^[10] At the inauguration ceremony the re-elected president assured the nation that he would continue the 5 institutional reforms that he had offered earlier, which would contribute to the consistent growth and development of the country.^[10]

On January 25, 2017, President Nursultan Nazarbayev laid the groundwork for reforms to the constitution that would redistribute executive powers to the parliament and ministries for the purpose of more open and efficient governance.^[11]

Presidential Administration[]

The Presidential Administration of the Republic of Kazakhstan (Kazakh: Қазақстан Республикасы Президентінің Әкімшілігі/Russian: Администрация Президента Республики Казахстан) reports directly to the president and aids him/her in their everyday dates. It was established in accordance of Presidential Decree No. 2565 on October 20, 1995. It is currently based at the Ak Orda Presidential Palace in the capital city of Nur-Sultan. Prior to that, it was based in Almaty.^[12]

Latest election[]

This section needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (June 2019)

Prior to the 2011 election, President Nazarbayev wrote an op-ed for The Washington Post titled "Kazakhstan’s steady progress toward democracy".^[13]

Kazakhstan's fifth presidential election was held on April 26, 2015.^[14] Nursultan Nazarbayev was re-elected with 97.7% of the vote. A total of 858 observers from 19 countries were present at the polling stations during the election.^{[citation needed]} According to Joseph Misfud, member of the election observation mission from Great Britain and head of the Diplomatic Academy of London, "the elections met all the EU standards".^[15]

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and other international monitors criticised the election as unfair, with issues noted including the closure of media outlets critical of the government and the jailing of opposition activists.^[16] OSCE spokesperson Cornelia Jonker criticised the lack of a "genuine choice" for voters and also argued that there were "significant restrictions to the freedom of expression."^[17]

The date of Kazakhstan's fifth presidential election is June 9, 2019. It is the first election since the resignation of the first president of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev.^[18]

Presidents of Kazakhstan (1990–present)[]

The "No." column consecutively numbers the individuals who have served as president, while the "Elected" column consecutively numbers the presidential terms or administrations.

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Elected	Term of office			Political party
				Took office	Left office	Time in office
1		Nursultan Nazarbayev Нұрсұлтан Назарбаев (1940–)	1990[a]	24 April 1990	1 December 1991	27 years, 94 days	QKP
(1)			1991	1 December 1991	14 December 1991		Independent
				14 December 1991	20 January 1999
			1999	20 January 1999	1 March 1999
(1)				1 March 1999	11 January 2006		Otan
			2005	11 January 2006	1 December 2006
(1)				1 December 2006	8 April 2011		Nur Otan
			2011	8 April 2011	29 April 2015
			2015	29 April 2015	20 March 2019[19] (resigned from office)
—		Kassym-Jomart Tokayev Қасым-Жомарт Тоқаев (1953–)	—	20 March 2019[20]	12 June 2019	2 years, 182 days	Nur Otan
2			2019	12 June 2019	Incumbent

Rank by time in office[]

Rank	President	Time in office
1	Nursultan Nazarbayev	27 years, 94 days[21]
2	Kassym-Jomart Tokayev	2 years, 182 days

See also[]

• List of leaders of Kazakhstan
• Vice President of Kazakhstan
• Prime Minister of Kazakhstan

Notes[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nursultan Nazarbayev.

• Official website of Kazakhstan President Nazarbayev
• Kazakhstan President Nazarbayev Biography

References[]