Crisis Chronology | Kazakhstan

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KAZAKHSTAN

03/19/2023

Ruling party Amanat wins about 53% of the vote for the lower house of parliament, the Mäjïlis. This will give Tokayev more strength in parliament, where supporters of Narbayev were strong and which was not due for elections until 2026. Tokayev called a snap vote. Turnout was about 54%.

02/15/2023

President Tokayev signs a law annulling many privileges of his predecessor Nursultan Nazarbayev, including lifetime financial support from the state, and the right to address the nation and propose ideas to officials, and also deprives Nazarbayev's immediate family of legal immunity.

01/14/2023

Elections for the upper house, the Senate. Elections are tightly controlled. The Senate’s power has been reduced by recent constitutional changes. There are forty senators, with half elected every three years. All twenty up for election were re-elected.

01/14/2023

11/28/2022

Meeting with Putin in Russia, Tokayev declines to commit to a Russian proposal for a natural gas union with Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Russia. The meeting, however, is an attempt to mend ties caused by Kazakhstan's opposition to the Russian annexation of territory in Ukraine.

11/28/2022

11/21/2022

Tokayev reelected

In snap election Tokayev easily wins reelection with 81% of the vote. There was no strong opposition candidate.

09/26/2022

President Tokayev says Kazakhstan will guarantee the safety of Russians fleeing Russia in protest against the war in Ukraine.

09/21/2022

Tokayev calls early election for 11/20/22. If he is reelected, as is likely, his current term will be cut short, but he will have the seven-year term recently established in the constitution.

09/16/2022

Fighting continues, including use of tanks and mortars.

09/13/2022

Fighting between troops on the border between Tajikistan and Kazakhstan. The two countries have a long-running border dispute.

09/13/2022

Legislature approves changing the name of the capital back to Astana and extends the president’s term from five to seven years, but limits the president to one term.

06/05/2022

In referendum voting today, constitutional amendments overwhelmingly pass, according to the government. They include decreasing the power of the president, reform of the parliament, limiting former president Narbayev’s power, banning his relatives from government positions, eliminating the death penalty, restoring the Constitutional Court, and creating three new regions. Tokayeve calls this a move to the “Second Republic” and says it is only the beginning of a better relationship between the government and citizens.

02/25/2022

Kazakhstan refuses to recognize the eastern Ukraine breakaway regions in the Donbas and also refuses to send troops to support the invasion of Ukraine.

01/11/2022

Russia withdraws its troops. Tokayev appoints Alikhan Smailov prime minister. Tokayev is replacing Narbayev supporters in positions of power with his own people.

01/10/2022

Government declares that the “coup d’état” has been suppressed.

01/08/2022

Former intelligence chief Karim Masimov, a close ally of former president Narbayev, is arrested on charges of treason.

01/07/2022

Tokayev orders security forces, now increased by Russian soldiers, to shoot to kill protestors without warning.

01/06/2022

Protestors and police are killed as protests continue violent. The government calls in forces from the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a military alliance of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Russia. EU calls on Russia to honor Kazakhstan’s sovereignty.

01/06/2022

01/05/2022

On fourth day of protests over rise in fuel prices, Tokayev removes all cabinet ministers and Prime Minister Askar Mamin, declares a state of emergency in Almaty, and orders the new cabinet to impose price controls on liquid petroleum gas as well as other fuels. He also removes former president Nursultan Nazarbayev as head of the powerful Security Council and takes its chairmanship for himself. First Deputy Prime Minister Alihan Smaiylov becomes acting prime minister. However, protests continue, and protestors break into the Almaty mayor’s office. A state of emergency is also declared in the city of Nur-Sultan.

01/03/2022

Amid protests over the increased price of fuel, Tokayev imposes a state of emergency in Almaty and Mangistu district for two weeks.

01/02/2022

Government removes price controls on liquid petroleum gas.

01/10/2021

Ruling Party retains power

Ruling Nur Otan party wins more than 70% of the vote. Opposition party abstains from running candidates.

07/11/2020

Kazakhstan rejects Chinese claim that a form of pneumonia being tracked there is more dangerous than COVID-19.

07/09/2020

China reports that Kazakhstan is seeing cases of a new virus more dangerous than COVID-19 causing high number of deaths from pneumonia.

03/15/2020

Kazakhstan declares a state of emergency due to COVID-19.

03/12/2020

Kazahkstan confirms its first two cases of COVID-19.

12/18/2019

Tokayev appoints Kanat Bozumbayev, formerly energy minister, presidential aide after protests.

12/16/2019

Protests during independence day demand political reform and the removal of Nazarbayev’s family from politics.

10/08/2019

Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on Tuesday ordered an investigation into former senior officials who initiated a struggling $1.5-bn Chinese-led project to build a light rail network in the capital.

06/12/2019

Hundreds are arrested in protests over the recent election, calling for more democracy.

06/10/2019

Tokayev is elected president

Election Commission announces that Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of the Radiant Fatherland Party, has won the presidential election with 71% of the vote. Large protests in Almaty and the capital, Nur-Sultan. Runner-up Amirzhan Kosanov won 16%.

04/09/2019

Kassym-Jomart Tokayev calls snap election.

04/09/2019

Tokayev calls elections for 6/9.

03/19/2019

Nazarbeyev resigns

Nazarbeyev announces his resignation. Speaker of the upper house of the legislature, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, will become interim president. Nazarbayev will remain head of the National Security Council.

03/19/2019

Government announces a unified system for declaring property and income to be introduced in 2020 in an effort to reduce the shadow economy.

03/19/2019

Tokayev sworn in. He renames the capital city Nursultan and appoints Narbayev’s daughter, Dariga Narbeyeva, speaker of the senate, which raises her profile as a possible successor.

02/21/2019

Nazarbeyev fires government

Nazarbayev asks his entire government to resign, citing its failure to make progress economically. He replaces Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev with Deputy Prime Minister Askar Mamin.

09/08/2018

Nazarbayev fires Prime Minister Karim Massimov and replaces him with Bakytzhan Sagintayev. Massimov will become head of the National Security Committee.