President Nursultan Nazarbayev is the only leader independent Kazakhstan has ever known. On Tuesday, he announced his resignation after three decades in power. The sudden notice is causing uncertainty over the future course of the Central Asian country.
Despite a population of only about 18 million, Kazakhstan is the ninth-largest country in the world with 21 million square miles. It borders Russia to the north and China to the east. The country has extensive oil reserves that make it strategically and economically important.
In a televised address, 78-year-old Nazarbayev said he has made the “difficult” decision to terminate his authority as president, effective yesterday. He did not give a specific reason for the move.
Nazarbayev will retain the honorary title of “Elbasy” or “Leader of the Nation” and continue to hold great political power. He told his people, “I will serve you until the end of my days.”
Upper house speaker Kassym-Jomart Tokayev will serve as interim head of state until a new election can be held.
Nazarbayev took the helm in Kazakhstan as its Communist Party chief of the republic in 1989 when it was part of the Soviet Union. He was first elected its president weeks before the 1991 Soviet collapse gave the country its independence. In those days, Kazakhstan was best known for prisons, nuclear testing sites, and being the home of the launch facility of the Soviet space program.
Nazarbayev modernized the oil industry and gave up the nuclear weapons Kazakhstan inherited from the Soviet Union. His resignation sets the stage for a potential battle between Russia and the United States for influence with the new government.
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. — Romans 13:1
(In this 2005 file photo, Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev waves to supporters. Presidential Press Service/Pool Photo via AP, File)
