Kazakhstan will hold early presidential elections on April 3, KazTAG reports.
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev signed decree N1149 on holding
elections on February 4. The document was published on Friday.
The Central Electoral Committee was ordered to start preparations for
the elections. The government was ordered to provide all the necessary
financial and technical support.
Yertysbayev, the president's advisor, expressed confidence that the
president will receive over 90% of the vote, and said the opposition
has no chance, RIA Novosti reports.
He added that opposition should have started preparations on December
4, 2005, when the presidential election results were announced. If the
opposition could not unite within 5 years, it hardly do so in two
months, the official says.
Yertysbayev believes that many candidates will be unable to take part
because they need financial pledges and a good knowledge of the state
language.
Nazarbayev decided to avoid the referendum on extension of
presidential terms until December 2020 on January 31. He announced
early elections on Monday.
The legislative basis was prepared swiftly. Amendments were introduced
to the Constitution on February 3, allowing the president to initiate
early elections. The amendments were published on Friday.
Editor-in-Chief of Vestnik Kavkaza Alexey Vlasov made correct
predictions about the events in Kazakhstan on January 28. Vlasov took
into account the coincidence of the presidential and parliamentary
elections. The elections are the referendum itself. People who support
the referendum may simply vote for their leader at the early
elections.
The editor-in-chief says that the decision demonstrated that
Nazarbayev is the number one politician in Kazakhstan. He demonstrates
devotion to democratic procedures and he has all it takes to mobilizes
the voters. There is the Kazakhstan-2020 coalition and there are
strategic program for modernization. The Nur Otan party passed a new
program for Nazarbayev's electoral platform.
