Kazakhstan’s president dissolves parliament and announces early elections

The president of KazakhstanPresident Kassym-Jomart Tokayev dissolved the lower house of parliament on Thursday and announced early legislative elections for March 19.

“I decided to dissolve the seventh legislature” of the Lower House of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan and “fix early elections (…) on March 19, 2023,” reads a presidential decree.

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Tokayev it also dissolved local parliaments, whose deputies are elected by universal suffrage.

The announcement comes four months after his re-election as head of the largest Central Asian country, in early presidential elections.

It is in line with the constitutional reform of June 2022, which seeks to turn the page on the three decades of government of his predecessor, the omnipotent Nursultan Nazarbáyev, who resigned in 2019.

In a message posted on the presidential website, Tokayev He said he hoped the early elections would “give new impetus to the modernization” begun last year in the country.

Rich in natural resources and located in the middle of important commercial axes, this former Soviet republic experienced strong protests in January 2022 against the high cost of living.

The demonstrations degenerated into riots and their repression by the authorities left at least 238 dead.

Tokayev he was re-elected without surprises in an early presidential election at the end of November, in which he obtained more than 80% of the vote.

The elections were criticized for the lack of rivals.

After his re-election, Tokayev He promised a “new era” in which “all the main institutions of power will be reformed.”

Source: Elcomercio

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