There will be 5 candidates apart from the incumbent president at
presidential elections on April 3, 2011, Kazakhstan Today reports.
The five candidates are independent. Kazakh President Nursultan
Nazarbayev was introduced as a candidate from the ruling Nur Otan
party on February 11.
Ualikhan Kaysarov failed to pass the exam on the state language on
February 8 and failed to be registered. His second attempt on February
9 was left without consideration by the Central Electoral Commission
(CEC).
Nursultan Nazarbayev, Musagali Duambekov and Salim Oten passed the
exam. They will now need to collect 91,010 signatures of support. The
number of authorized assistants for signature collection is limited.
Nazarbayev’s public headquarters for support at the presidential
elections is headed by the first deputy chairman of Nur Otan, Nurlan
Nigmatulin.
Leader o the unregistered ecological party “Menin Kazakhstanym”
DUambekov said that he expects 30% of the votes.
Salim Otan, a businessman and author of the Russian-Kazakh dictionary,
said that he expects to win the elections.
Head of the “Attan Kazakhstan” anti-nuclear movement and an organizer
of the “Nevada-Semipalatinsk” party Amantay kazhi Asylbek and
unemployed citizen from Astana Kanat Yeszhanov plan to take part in
the elections.
Yeszhanov said that he planned to take part in the elections in 2012.
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev signed a decree in early
February to hold early elections on April 3, 2011.
The president signed amendments to the Constitution on February 3. The
law is aimed at realizing the laws on elections and the president. The
amendments introduce early elections.
Nomination of independent candidates for president is held on February
5-20. Registration ends on March 2, 2011. Campaigning will start on
March 3 and end on April 1.
Nazarbayev has been at power since April 1990. Amendments to the
Constitution in 2007 allowed him to be re-elected unlimited times. A
referendum on extension of presidential terms until 2000 was held in
April 1995.
Nazarbayev won elections in 1999 and 2005. His terms of office end in 2012.
