Re-elected Tokayev hopes for “30 golden years”

Kazakhstan’s president has had a dramatic year, when he quarreled with Vladimir Putin but in return received a unique visit from Xi Jinping.

Now Kassym-Jomart Tokajev has been re-elected in the authoritarian former Soviet country.

According to the preliminary results after Sunday’s presidential election, Tokayev gets just over 81 percent of the vote. He had five opposing candidates, all of whom are almost unknown to the general public. There is no strong opposition.

Tokayev was handpicked in 2019 as the successor of the father of the country Nursultan Nazarbayev.

“I really congratulate you on this clear victory in the presidential election,” writes Nazarbayev on his website.

The mentor also praises “broad reforms and new initiatives” under Tokayev’s rule, as well as “the determination and wisdom you showed during the critical hours when our country’s independence was at stake.”

Changed name again

Nazarbayev is referring to the nationwide protests against the hardline rule that erupted in January. The president then showed his brutal side by ordering security forces to “shoot to kill”, cutting off all communications with the outside world and asking powerful neighbor Russia for help in putting down the rebellion.

But then Tokayev surprised. As soon as regime criticism was crushed, at the cost of at least 250 dead, the Kazakh president demanded that his Russian counterpart Putin bring his soldiers home. And an internal purge began, where Nazarbayev’s confidants were forced out of the cauldrons of power in the energy-rich country.

The capital returned to its old name of Astana, after being renamed Nur-Sultan in 2019 in honor of Nazarbayev.

Received Russians

At a summit in St. Petersburg in June, Tokayev openly criticized the meeting host. Side by side with Putin, the Kazakh president said that recognizing separatist areas “leads to chaos” – a clear mark against Russia’s Ukraine policy since the start of the war in 2014.

And when many Russians then tried to escape war mobilization, Tokayev opened the 750-mile country border, urging all Kazakhs to “take good care” of fleeing Russians.

At the same time, the 69-year-old has managed to maintain good relations with powerful friends. Both the President of the European Council Charles Michel and Pope Francis have come to visit despite the violence last winter.

Golden years

Not least, the leader of superpower China chose to make his first trip abroad after the pandemic to Astana. Xi Jinping came to a SCO summit in September, but also extended his stay to make a formal state visit.

– No matter how the international conditions change, we will strongly support Kazakhstan, Xi promised.

Astana has a symbolic value for the Chinese leader, because it was there in 2013 that he presented the gigantic infrastructure investment “New Silk Road”, or as it is called in English the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

In a communique, Tokayev and Xi said their cooperation should result in “30 golden years”.