Kazakhstan Moves To Extend President’s Rule

Kazakhstan moved to extend the reign of President Nursultan Nazarbayev for another ten years without re-election.

The country’s election body backed a self-styled citizens’ forum which last week called for a referendum to extend Mr Nazarbayev’s rule to 2020, when he will be 80 years old. The backing means that the collection of the required 200,000 signatures can begin and the president will decide at the end of the process whether to hold a referendum.

Mr Nazarbayev, whose advisers recently said he would stand for re-election in 2012, has ruled the Central Asian country since the dying days of the Soviet Union. Last year a “Leader of the Nation” law was passed which grants Mr Nazarbayev’s family lifetime immunity from prosecution, and threatens prison to anyone “violating the honour and dignity of the First President”.