Kazakhstan's ruling party nominates Nazarbayev as presidential candidate
Xinhua, March 12, 2015 Adjust font size:
Kazakhstan's ruling "Nur Otan" party on Wednesday unanimously nominated incumbent President Nursultan Abishuly Nazarbayev as its candidate for the next presidential election during its 16th congress held here in the capital.
Nazarbayev said he accepts the nomination with only one purpose, which is to set new targets for Kazakhstan.
He then took part in the Kazakh language test required by the Central Election Committee (CEC). The CEC later announced that Nazarbayev meets all requirements for a presidential candidate.
Nazarbayev will have to collect at least 93,012 signatures to become a candidate, which he could gather through authorized agents or support groups.
As head of state, Nazarbayev announced two weeks ago that Kazakhstan will hold a snap election on April 26 in order to avert the foreseeable collision of presidential and parliamentary elections, scheduled for the end of 2016 and the beginning of 2017.
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