Nursultan Nazarbayev

Nursultan Nazarbayev Äbischuly ( Kazakh Cyrillic Нұрсұлтан Әбішұлы Назарбаев, Kazakh- latin Nursultan Nazarbaev Äbişulı; Russian Нурсултан Абишевич Назарбаев / Nursultan Nazarbayev Abischewitsch; born July 6, 1940 in Tschemolgan ) is since 1990 the president of Kazakhstan and Chairman of the Otan Party Only.

Nazarbayev is married to Sara and has Nazarbayeva with these three daughters. He is a Sunni Islamic confession. The assets of the Nazarbayev clan in 2010 was estimated at seven billion U.S. dollars.

Life

Nazarbayev was first Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic and was June 22, 1989 to August 28, 1991 Secretary of the Communist Party of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic.

He was elected on 24 April 1990 by the Kazakh parliament ( the Supreme Soviet ) President of the Soviet Republic. After the collapse of the Soviet Union left the newly independent Kazakhstan Nazarbayev confirmed on 1 December 1991 for a five year term. The next re-election followed on 29 April 1995 and 95 per cent of voters were in those days for an extension of the term of office of Nazarbayev until 2000 from. The presidential powers were expanded by the new Kazakh Constitution of September 1995 at the expense of Parliament. This extended in autumn 1998, the presidential term from five to seven years. The first seven years of presidency came to Nazarbayev in January 1999, after again in early elections more than 80 percent had voted for the incumbent. In the re-election in December 2005, it reached 91 percent of the vote.

Since 2007, and another, adopted by Parliament constitutional amendment to Nazarbayev may be elected as many times as he wants. The term, however, had been reduced from seven to five years. Parliament also appointed him in the summer of 2010, "the leader of the nation " ( Kazakh Ұлт Лидері / Ult Lideri ) and granted him and his next of kin lifelong immunity from prosecution. In January 2011, the Parliament voted for a referendum on the extension of Nazarbayev's term hold until 2020 - the presidential elections of 2012 and 2017 would thus become obsolete. However, the Constitutional Council saw this as a breach of the constitution, after Nazarbayev - " to take account of democratic principles " - early presidential elections announced. They took place on April 3, 2011. Nazarbayev was confirmed with 95.5 percent of the vote in office. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE ) said it had been observed in the choice of " serious irregularities ".

In the parliamentary elections in January 2012, Nazarbayev's party won 80.74 percent of the vote. First coated with the state economy loyal party Ak Schol ( "Bright Path" ) and the Communist People's Party of Kazakhstan more parties into parliament. In advance, the government had announced its intention to strengthen the democratic process in Kazakhstan and hold the elections according to international standards. However, OSCE observers criticized the election. It had been found of fraud. Also were excluded from the election several opposition parties and politicians. On 1 December 2012, the newly introduced annual recurring holiday " day of the first president " was held for the first time in honor of Nazarbayev. In Western media is spoken by an extension of the personality cult around the President.

Nazarbayev is trying to balance between cooperation with the West, while maintaining good relations with Russia in its foreign policy. From the West he is being courted because Kazakhstan has large oil and gas reserves. American companies were able to acquire such concessions for large oil fields in Kazakhstan. In domestic policy, he has managed taking into account the interests of communities, at least convert the wealth of resources in increasing prosperity in the cities. Political reforms are neglected, and the gas and oil resources have only benefited a narrow elite. Opposition activists and political opponents to the regime with repressive methods is going on, the media are largely the same switched and were largely controlled by the president's daughter Dariga Nazarbayeva.

Under his initiative, the capital of Kazakhstan Almaty was moved to Astana.

Allegations of corruption

Nazarbayev sees itself internationally over allegations of corruption. According to research by the New York he should of James Giffin, a middleman American oil companies, in the award of production licenses have received $ 78 million bribe. Nazarbayev's former son in law Rakhat Aliyev, his character also former head of the Kazakh financial police, deputy director of the Kazakh KNB secret service and a former deputy foreign minister, has repeatedly announced its intention to testify in the current trial ( " Kazakhgate " ) in the United States.

In the wake of a U.S. legal assistance desire to Switzerland 120 million U.S. dollars have been blocked from oil deals with Kazakhstan. From September 2010, the Swiss Federal Prosecutor's Office determined, inter alia, against Nazarbayev and his son Timur Kulibayev on suspicion of money laundering.

The Kazakh journalist Sergei Duvanov was convicted on his research into this case in a highly questionable process according to the OSCE in Kazakhstan to two years imprisonment.

Honors

• 2001: Collar of the Pontifical Order of Pius ( Il Collare dell'Ordine Piano )

Pictures

Vladimir Putin, Jiang Zemin and Nazarbayev in Almaty, 2002

Nazarbayev with George W. Bush, 2006

Nazarbayev ( left) at the CIS summit in 2008, with Dmitry Medvedev (right) and Sergei Lavrov ( above)