Early presidential elections in Kazakhstan will be held in April

President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan signed a decree on holding early presidential elections on 26 April.

Nazarbayev explained his decision by the interests of the people of Kazakhstan, “their request to me and the general will.”

February 14 members of the Council of the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan stated that in the difficult situation in the world, Nazarbayev “needs to be given a new mandate of national trust.”

The next term of office of Nazarbayev, who is permanently headed by Kazakhstan after the collapse of the USSR, expires in 2016 year. According to the Constitution of Kazakhstan, the same person cannot be elected president of the country more than two times in a row, but this restriction does not apply to the first head of the republic.

The Constitutional Council of Kazakhstan has not previously detected any legal obstacles to holding early presidential elections.