Kazakhstan to hold presidential election on April 3
ALMATY: Kazakhstan's veteran leader has called a snap presidential election on April 3, about 20 months before his current term in office is due to end, a decree published in the official Kazakhstanskaya Pravda on Friday said.
Nazarbayev, 70, has ruled Kazakhstan for two decades and is almost certain to win the snap election he called after rejecting a plan to let him rule Central Asia's largest economy unopposed until 2020.
Nazarbayev, known as " Papa" to many Kazakhs, can run for an unlimited number of terms. Kazakhstan has never held an election judged free and fair by international observers.
Many foreign investors, who have poured more than $150 billion into Kazakhstan during Nazarbayev's rule, rate the absence of a clear succession plan as the single biggest threat to political stability in the oil-rich country.
Nazarbayev, 70, has ruled Kazakhstan for two decades and is almost certain to win the snap election he called after rejecting a plan to let him rule Central Asia's largest economy unopposed until 2020.
Nazarbayev, known as " Papa" to many Kazakhs, can run for an unlimited number of terms. Kazakhstan has never held an election judged free and fair by international observers.
Many foreign investors, who have poured more than $150 billion into Kazakhstan during Nazarbayev's rule, rate the absence of a clear succession plan as the single biggest threat to political stability in the oil-rich country.
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