Kazakhstan’s president of 30 years to step down
MOSCOW — President Nursultan Nazarbayev, the only leader that independent Kazakhstan has ever known, announced his resignation Tuesday after three decades in power, raising uncertainty over the future course of the Central Asian country.
In a televised address to the oil-rich nation, the 78year-old Nazarbayev said he has made the “difficult” decision to terminate his authority as president, effective Wednesday.
He did not give a specific reason for the move, but noted that he would have marked 30 years on the job later this year and added that he sees his mission as securing a smooth transition of power.
“As the founder of the independent state of Kazakhstan, I see my future task in ensuring the ascent to power of a new generation of leaders, who will continue reforms,” he said.
Nazarbayev will retain the honorary title of “Elbasy” or “Leader of the Nation.” He said he will remain chairman of the nation’s Security Council and the head of the ruling Nur Otan party.
“I will stay with you, as a citizen, a man who loves our country,” he said. “I will serve you until the end of my days. “
He said that upper house speaker Kassym-Jomart Tokayev will serve as interim head of state in line with the constitution until a new election can be held. Tokayev is a former prime minister and foreign minister who also served as director-general of the U.N. office in Geneva between 2011 and 2013.
Kazakhstan, despite having a population of about 18 million, is the ninth-largest country in the world. It borders Russia to the north and China to the east and has extensive oil reserves that make it strategically and economically important.
Nazarbayev took the helm in Kazakhstan as its Communist Party chief of the republic in 1989 when it was part of the Soviet Union, and he was first elected its president weeks before the 1991 Soviet collapse gave the country its independence.
Nazarbayev has been praised for maintaining stability and ethnic peace in Kazakhstan, but he also has faced criticism for marginalizing the political opposition and creating what is effectively a one-party state. President Nazarbayev delivers a nation Tuesday.