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Kazakhstan to hold snap presidential election in late April

Xinhua, February 26, 2015 Adjust font size:

President Nursultan Nazarbayev on Wednesday announced in a national television address that Kazakhstan would hold a snap presidential election on April 26, which is more than one year before its original schedule.

While appearing on the national news channel CTB in the evening to announce the largely-anticipated early election schedule, Nazarbayev, 74, said he made the decision after having made prior consultations with Prime Minister Karim Massimov, leaders of the parliament and head of the Constitution Council.

President Nazarbayev also said he believed holding early presidential election is in the best interest of Kazakhstan and its people as Kazakhs made appeals to him about the internal strife and external instabilities faced by the country, making him believe that the strengthening of stability and unity of Kazakhstan is necessary.

Nazarbayev is the first and so far the only president of Kazakhstan since its independence in 1991. He has kept a support rate of more than 90 percent in all previous elections. The parliament of the country approved an amendment in 2007 allowing him unlimited participation in future presidential elections. Endite