Kazakhstan calls March 15 referendum on new constitution

By Felix Light and Mariya Gordeyeva

ALMATY, Feb 11 (Reuters) – Kazakhstan on Wednesday announced a March 15 referendum on a new constitution that could allow President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, currently barred from ruling beyond 2029, to remain at the helm of Central Asia’s largest economy.

The new draft basic law would streamline Kazakhstan’s parliament, replacing two chambers with one and reducing the number of lawmakers, while reinstating the office of vice-president, which was abolished in 1996.

Tokayev, a former Soviet and Kazakh diplomat who speaks five languages and previously led the United Nations office in Geneva, is currently limited to one seven-year term until 2029, under a change that he himself introduced in 2022.

Under the new draft, Kazakh presidents would remain limited to a single term of seven years.

Tokayev has previously said that he will leave office in 2029, but the new constitution may provide a backdoor to another term, if its passage is held to nullify his previous term, served under an old constitution.

A Kazakh diplomatic source told Reuters that a new term under the new constitution is a possibility, but that no firm decision had yet been taken.

Leaders of a string of former Soviet republics, including Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, have previously used new or amended constitutions to reset their legal term limits.    The move comes at a sensitive time domestically for Kazakhstan, which has introduced across-the-board tax hikes amid double-digit inflation fuelled partly by the war in Ukraine. Its oil industry, which produces around 2% of global oil supply, has also suffered a number of setbacks.

Tokayev, who previously served as prime minister and foreign minister, took office in 2019 as the handpicked successor of Kazakhstan’s first president, Nursultan Nazarbayev. Nazarbayev initially retained significant power as “Leader of the Nation” and head of Kazakhstan’s security council.    But Tokayev stripped his predecessor of his jobs and influence after nationwide unrest in 2022 saw hundreds killed, amid widespread anger at the perception of a corrupt system centred on Nazarbayev and his family.    An energy and minerals giant, Kazakhstan maintains strong relations with the West, Russia and China.

(Reporting by Mariya Gordeeva and Felix Light; editing by Mark Trevelyan and Tomasz Janowski)