Kazakhstan to hold snap presidential elections on Nov 20

ASTANA. Sept 21 (Interfax) - Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has signed a decree setting snap presidential elections in the country for November 20, the presidential press service said.

The president's decree, published on Wednesday, "orders that the snap elections of the president of Kazakhstan be scheduled for November 20, 2022."

The Central Elections Commission has been tasked with organizing and holding the snap presidential elections, while the government has been instructed to take all necessary organizational, logistics and financial measures related to the elections.

The decree also orders "the heads of the cities of Astana, Almaty, Shymkent and the regions to ensure the timely preparation and accuracy of the lists of citizens who have voting rights and take all necessary measures to help the Central Elections Commission and the territorial and district elections commissions to tackle issues related to the organization and conduct of the snap presidential elections."

The document enters into force on the day of its first official publication.

On September 17, Tokayev signed into law a bill on constitutional amendments which established a seven-year presidential term in Kazakhstan, without the right to re-election. Previously, the presidential term was five years, and a president could be elected for two consecutive terms.

Earlier, in his address to the people of Kazakhstan on September 1, Tokayev proposed holding snap presidential elections in the country this fall and announced plans to run in them. He also proposed limiting the number of terms one person may serve as the country's president to one seven-year term, without the right to seek re-election. Tokayev promised to submit this initiative to the parliament after the presidential elections in the fall.

However, a few days later, the Zhana Kazakhstan (New Kazakhstan) group of deputies proposed adding the provision on a seven-year presidential term to the constitution before the snap presidential elections and changing the name of the country's capital Nur-Sultan back to Astana.