Kazakh parliam approves appeal to presid on amending Constitution.

29/12 Tass 66

ASTANA, December 29 (Itar-Tass) - Deputies of the Majilis (lower
house) of Kazakhstan's parliament on Wednesday approved an appeal to the
president on holding the republic's referendum on the issue of amending
the Constitution so that to envisage a possibility of extending the
president's term of office until December 2020.
"We, the lawmakers and the people of Kazakhstan, only with you and
with your name link the successful future of our country," lower house
speaker Ural Mukhamedzhanov quoted the text of the lawmakers' appeal to
the president. "Taking into account the above, please support this appeal
and call a republican referendum introducing the following question to it:
"Do you accept the Law on Amendments to the Constitution, providing for
the possibility of extending through a nationwide referendum the office
term of the first president?" he said.
The lawmakers unanimously supported the appeal.
Majilis chairman Ural Mukhamedzhanov said that a bill on the
introduction of amendments to the Constitution has been drafted.
Meanwhile, a draft appeal to the president should also be approved by
the members of the Senate (upper house) of parliament. After that the
appeal will be formally sent to the head of state.
Nursultan Abishuly Nazarbayev (born 6 July 1940 in Chemolgan, Kazakh
SSR, Soviet Union) has served as the President of Kazakhstan since the
Fall of the Soviet Union and the nation's independence in 1991.
An April 1995 referendum extended his term until 2000. He was
re-elected in January 1999 and again in December 2005. The Organisation
for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) criticised the last
presidential election as falling short of international democratic
standards. On May 18, 2007, the Parliament of Kazakhstan approved a
constitutional amendment which would allow Nazarbayev to seek re-election
as many times as he wishes. This amendment applies specifically and only
to Nazarbayev: the original constitution's prescribed maximum of two
presidential terms will still apply to all future presidents of
Kazakhstan. Nazarbayev appointed Altynbek Sarsenbayev, who at the time
served as the Minister of Culture, Information and Concord, the Secretary
of the Kazakh Security Council, replacing Marat Tazhin, on 4 May 2001.
Tazhin became the Chairman of the National Security Council, replacing
Alnur Musayev. Musayev became the head of the Guards' Service of the
President.
His government's policies are considered moderate and maintain a
balance between the United States and Russia. Notwithstanding Kazakhstan's
membership in the Organization of the Islamic Conference, under Nazarbayev
the country has had good relations with Israel. Diplomatic relations were
established in 1992 and President Nazarbayev paid official visits to
Israel in 1995 and 2000. Bilateral trade between the two countries
amounted to $724 million in 2005. He initiated the move of the
administration from Almaty to Astana. A former minister in the Nazarbayev
government, Zamanbek K. Nurkadilov, said that President Nazarbayev ought
to answer allegations that Kazakh officials had accepted millions of US
dollars in bribes from an intermediary for US oil firms in the 1990s.
-0-ezh/gor


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