ALMATY, Kazakhstan, March 20, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Kazakhstan’s new interim
president was sworn in Wednesday following the shock resignation of the
country’s long-time ruler and immediately proposed renaming the capital after
his predecessor.
The Central Asian nation’s senate also appointed ex-leader Nursultan
Nazarbayev’s eldest daughter Dariga as speaker, setting her up as a potential
contender to succeed her father.
The previous senate chief, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, took office as interim
president in a pomp-filled ceremony in the capital Astana less than 24 hours
after Nazarbayev, the only leader an independent Kazakhstan had ever known,
suddenly announced he was stepping down.
Tokayev, 65, will serve out the rest of Nazarbayev’s mandate until
elections due in April next year, though the former president retains
significant powers in the country he ruled for nearly three decades.
In his first official act, Tokayev proposed that Astana — the gleaming new
capital Nazarbayev erected in the country’s vast steppes — be renamed
“Nursultan” in his honour.
Tokayev told deputies Nazarbayev had “shown wisdom” by deciding to step
down, a rare move in ex-Soviet Central Asia where other leaders have stayed
in power until death.
“Yesterday the world witnessed a historic event,” Tokayev said, hailing
Nazarbayev as a visionary reformer.
“The results of an independent Kazakhstan are there for all to see,”
Tokayev said. “I propose… naming the country’s capital Astana in honour of
the first president.”
– Futuristic capital –
Astana replaced Kazakhstan’s largest city Almaty as the capital in 1997 and
was transformed from a minor provincial town into a futuristic city.
Its name means “capital” in Kazakh and there has long been speculation it
could at some point be renamed after the leader who shaped it.
Nazarbayev, 78, ruled Kazakhstan since before it gained independence with
the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.
He steered the country through a major transformation, developing huge
energy reserves and boosting its international influence, but was accused of
cracking down on dissent and tolerating little opposition.
Nazarbayev will continue to enjoy significant powers thanks to his
constitutional status as “Leader of the Nation”, life-time position as chief
of the security council and head of the ruling Nur Otan party.
Tokayev appeared to be in pole position to take in the long term until
senators voted shortly after his swearing-in to name Nazarbayeva, 55, as
their new chief.
She is the most politically prominent of Nazarbayev’s three children and
has long been mooted as a potential successor.
Kazakhstan’s deputy prime minister from 2015 to 2016, Nazarbayeva has
significant influence over the media.
Analysts said it was too early to declare a clear frontrunner to become the
next elected president, with the recently named prime minister, 53-year-old
Askar Mamin, another possible contender.
– Seat warmer or contender? –
Tokayev, the interim president, has a strong diplomatic record dating back
to the Soviet period and has twice been foreign minister.
This should go some way to reassuring Kazakhstan’s major partners including
China, the European Union, Russia and the United States that the move will
not threaten key relationships.
But analysts are in two minds over whether he has the attributes to take
the job beyond the term that Nazarbayev would have served.
As Tokayev alternated between Russian and Kazakh in his speech in the
parliament on Wednesday, he appeared notably more comfortable in Russian.
Independent political analyst Dosym Satpayev said that language skills are
closely scrutinised by Kazakh speakers tired of the dominance of Russian.
“In terms of Kazakh language, we cannot say that Tokayev is as comfortable
as the first president. This is an important issue in the long-term as over
60 percent of the population is Kazakh and this demographic is expanding,”
Satpayev said.
But Satpayev also said that Tokayev’s diplomatic skills had helped him
forge a careful career path through an elite prone to clannishness and
regionalism.
“He is capable of negotiating between different groups and taking different
interests into account. He lacks popular recognition to some extent but he is
a heavyweight in the bureaucracy.”