Kazakhstan's early elections to strengthen political stability - PM

ASTANA, February 9 (Itar-Tass) - Kazakhstan's decision to hold the
early presidential elections is aimed at further strengthening of
political stability in the country, Prime Minister Karim Masimov said in an exclusive interview with Itar-Tass on Wednesday.
He noted that President Nursultan Nazarbayev expressed his opinion on the political situation and the election process in his address to the nation.
"As you know there were an initiative group and the parliamentarians' decision urging the president to extend his term in office through the referendum. He made it clear in his address that he is a democratically elected president and does not want to give a wrong signal to the future generation of politicians and presidents," Masimov said.
"I think that this is one of the most important decisions taken by our president. It is comparable with the announcement of independence and with the nuclear disarmament. This means that he once again stressed the importance of building a democratic state," he said.
"Such an important political decision will strengthen our country's political stability even further," the prime minister said.
The presidential elections in the Central Asian republic should have taken place in 2012. However, at the end of last year, a group of citizens came out with the initiative to hold a referendum on extending the incumbent president's term in office till 2020. Over five million people supported the initiative.
Parliamentarians passed amendments to the Constitution, which made it possible to hold such a referendum and extend Nazarbayev's term in office.
However, the president did not sign them and sent to the Constitutional Council that recognized these amendments unconstitutional.
On February 4, Nazarbayev signed a decree on the early presidential elections on April 3.