KZBlog

Today in a joint session, the Parliament of Kazakhstan unanimously approved a motion to amend the Constitution in order to extend the term of Nazarbayev until the year 2020, overcoming the President’s earlier veto. The head of the Central Election Committee, Kuandyk Turgankulov, who approved the referendum from the people of Kazakhstan was in Parliament today speaking to reporters and despite saying that the President cannot veto this proposal, also said that we are waiting to see what the President will do.

I have to admit that while I have been trying to follow this story, I am completely lost because it seems like Parliament and this initiative group’s petition have been working simultaneously. And because the law-making process has moved much faster than it usually does.

As far as I understand, an initiative group proposed a referendum to extend the President’s term, which requires 250,000 signatures. Then Parliament proposed the referendum and the President vetoed it. Then the group collected 5 million signatures. Then this proposal went to the President. Now Parliament has overturned the President’s veto. But there has been no reaction thus far on the people’s initiative.

Is there an expert on Kazakhstan law that can explain this to me and the other readers? It seems like they might have put the cart before the horse a few times. I’m also not clear on why this requires an amendment to the Constitution. Can’t they just hold the referendum without changing the Constitution?

Note that, as far as I understand, all that has been approved is the decision to hold a national vote on whether to extend his term or not. So it is theoretically possible that people will vote against the proposal. There have also been rumors of aggressive measures by people collecting signatures, including banging on doors late at night and teachers telling parents of pupils to sign. It would be interesting if the positive vote on the proposal itself fell far short of the 5 million signatures collected in favor of the referendum.