Kazakhstan to hold snap presidential elections in June

Kazakhstan’s interim president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, called a snap presidential election for June 9 on Tuesday and looked to be in pole position to continue ruling the oil-rich Central Asian nation.

Tokayev, 65, made the announcement in a widely watched televised address to the nation on April 9. He did not immediately divulge if he intends to stand.

The vote will mark the closure of a season of changeover that began with the surprise resignation of former President Nursultan Nazarbayev on March 19.

The move gives other potential contenders little time to organize and run campaigns, while the incumbent’s ratings are likely to benefit from public sector pay rises in June and other welfare initiatives.

Tokayev said he made the decision to hold the election in consultation with Nazarbayev, who continues to wield considerable influence in his capacity as head of the National Security Council.

“We are on the right course,” Tokayev said. “I therefore firmly believe that an early presidential election is absolutely necessary.”

Tokayev offered assurances that the elections would be fair and open. No presidential vote in Kazakhstan has ever been given a full bill of health by observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

The likely list of viable hopefuls for the presidency is very short since no political figures beyond Nazarbayev have much of a significant public profile. Other than Tokayev, one option is Nazarbayev’s daughter, Dariga Nazarbayeva, but she took up a position as speaker of the Senate just days after her father resigned.

Nazarbayev won Kazakhstan’s last presidential election, which also took place before schedule, on April 26, 2015, with 97.8 percent of the vote. Heads of state are permitted to serve for a term of up to five years, so the next election would have been scheduled to take place no later than April 2020. This is a fraught point, however, since the constitution also requires the presidential election to be held in December.

By calling a vote, Tokayev is explicitly seeking to put rest to any anxieties about political unpredictability.

“In order to ensure social and political harmony, to confidently move forward, to address the demands of social and economic development, it is necessary to get rid of any uncertainty,” he said in his televised address.