Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s bet on a referendum to secure citizens’ consent to construct a nuclear power plant has worked. The Central Election Commission of Kazakhstan announced the final results of the referendum held last Sunday, in which 63,66% of citizens eligible to vote showed up at the polling stations. 71.12 % answered “Yes” to the question on the ballot paper about consent to constructing the nuclear power plant.

Organizations engaged in sociological surveys of voters at the exit polls announced similar results on Sunday night and Monday.

“The exit poll of the Institute of Complex Social Studies – Astana (SOCIS-A) called the referendum participants’ decision to favor the construction of nuclear power plants in Kazakhstan. ‘For’ voted 69.8%, ‘Against’ – 30.2%. Similar figures were shown by the Institute of Eurasian Integration exit poll (‘For’ – 71.8%, ‘Against’ – 28.2%). According to the Institute of Public Policy of the Amanat party, 72.3% of referendum participants voted in favor of the NPP construction. In comparison, 27.7% voted against,” Kazakhstani political analyst Eduard Poletayev said on his Facebook account.

His colleague Daniyar Ashimbayev, commenting on the exit poll data, emphasized that Kazakhstanis have managed to overcome old phobias related to Chernobyl and tests at the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site, as well as “enemy propaganda.” By ‘propaganda’, he means the agitation work of opponents to NPP construction.

@ТСА/Kubaizhanov

“For many years, projects to return to nuclear energy were discussed, but there was always a lack of political will, and powerful foreign pressure prevented the decision necessary for the country. And even now, during the campaign period, we have seen the active work of propagandists paid from abroad to not only disrupt the plans for the construction of nuclear power plants but also to try to destabilize the situation in the country,” said Ashimbayev.

Ashimbayev implies that the United States is putting sticks in the wheels of the development of Kazakhstan’s nuclear industry. And the point here is not that American nuclear corporations were left off the shortlist, which Kazakhstan is considering, but in the usual policy of containment. Not Kazakhstan, of course, but Russia and China – Washington’s main geopolitical rivals and competitors.

Realizing this, Tokayev, after voting in the referendum and answering journalists’ questions afterward, said that he would like the NPP to be built by an international consortium, presumably from the companies of those countries that were on the shortlist: Russia, China, South Korea, and France.

“This is not an easy question. The government should engage in analysis and conduct appropriate negotiations. My vision for this issue is for an international consortium to work in Kazakhstan, consisting of global companies with the most advanced technologies. Further, as they say, life will show,” Tokayev said.

Kazakhstan has turned another significant page in its history. In 400 days of discussing nuclear power plants – how long it took from when Tokayev first mentioned atomic power to the end of the campaign period – the president’s team has managed the essentially impossible. Kazakhstanis’ aversion to nuclear power appeared to be an impassable obstacle. However, the years separating us from the last explosions at the nuclear power plant, the policy of enlightenment, and regular power cuts did their job. Kazakhstanis entered a new era: the era of the peaceful atom.