By Oyintari Ben
The latest move by Kazakhstan’s President, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to depart from the legacy of his predecessor was the signing of a bill restricting presidential terms and returning the capital to its former name.
On Saturday, President Tokayev signed a bill that increased the length of presidential terms from the current five to seven years, and prohibited any president from seeking reelection.
Tokayev also signed a measure changing the name of the capital from Nur-Sultan to Astana.
In two readings on Friday, the Kazakh Parliament unanimously approved the modifications.
The bill restored Astana as the name of the capital. In honor of departing President Nursultan Nazarbayev, the name was changed to Nur-Sultan in March 2019.
According to a directive posted on the presidential website, the modification is effective right away.
After Kazakhstan obtained independence in 1991 and was ruled by Nazarbayev for three decades during the Soviet era, Almaty was replaced as the nation’s capital in 1997.
In honor of Nazarbayev, who held significant power as the leader of the nation’s ruling party and security council, his successor Tokayev attempted to rename it Nur-Sultan after he stepped down in 2019.
However, Tokayev removed him from those positions following the violent upheaval in January, which was partly sparked by discontent with the amount of control Nazarbayev still had, and he announced significant reforms.
Tokayev has steadily distanced himself from Nazarbayev since he succeeded him as president in 2019 and used an iron grip to dominate the energy-rich country.
Tokayev has called for “totally new standards for a political system with fair and open rules of the game” and has begun reform efforts.
In January, the nation experienced riots that claimed more than 200 lives.
The upheaval, which was prompted by a significant increase in petrol costs, also revealed a general dissatisfaction with the nation’s politics.
Tokayev called for an early presidential election earlier this month and revealed plans to restore the capital’s previous name.
Tokayev has previously declared his intention to run for office. It wasn’t immediately obvious if the recent constitutional changes would permit him to do so, but similar constitutional changes in Belarus and Russia permitted incumbent leaders to run again under the new rules.
