NUR-SULTAN (TCA) — Kazakhstan’s former President Nursultan Nazarbayev has received yet another title — honorary member of the Senate, the upper house of the country’s parliament.
The May 30 decision by the Senate came a day after the leaders of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) member states — Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia — appointed Nazarbayev as honorary chairman of the EEU Economic Committee.
In turn, Nazarbayev on May 29 awarded the presidents of Russia, Kyrgyzstan, and Belarus a medal named after himself — the Order of the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev — during a ceremony held in the Kazakh capital, which was renamed Nur-Sultan after Nazarbayev’s resignation two months ago.
After Nazarbayev stepped down on March 30, then-Senate speaker Kasym-Zhomart Tokayev became interim president and a snap presidential election was announced for June 9 and is expected to be easily won by Tokayev.
Tokayev’s election would be a key stage in a political transition that appears to have been closely choreographed by Nazarbayev, who preserved levers of influence by staying on as lifetime chairman of the country’s Security Council and chairman of the ruling Nur-Otan party, RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service reported.
He also enjoys full immunity from prosecution due to his status as “elbasy,” or leader of the nation.
Opponents, critics, and rights groups say Nazarbayev, who had ruled oil-rich Kazakhstan since before the Soviet collapse in 1991, denied many citizens basic rights and prolonged his time in office by stifling dissent and manipulating the democratic process.
