Skip to main content

Eurasianet

Main Menu

  • Regions
  • Topics
  • Media
  • About
  • Search
  • Newsletter
  • русский
  • Support us
X

Caucasus

Armenia
Azerbaijan
Georgia

Central Asia

Kazakhstan
Kyrgyzstan
Tajikistan
Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan

Conflict Zones

Abkhazia
Nagorno Karabakh
South Ossetia

Eastern Europe

Belarus
Moldova
Russia
The Baltics
Ukraine

Eurasian Fringe

Afghanistan
China
EU
Iran
Mongolia
Turkey
United Kingdom
United States
X

Environment

Economy

Politics

Kazakhstan's Bloody January 2022
Kyrgyzstan 2020 unrest

Security

Society

American diplomats in Central Asia
Arts and Culture
Coronavirus
Student spotlight
X

Visual Stories

Podcast
Video

Blogs

Tamada Tales
The Bug Pit

Podcasts

EurasiaChat
Expert Opinions
The Central Asianist
X
You can search using keywords to narrow down the list.
Central Asia, Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan: Opposition Divided on Election Strategy

Kazakhstan’s president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, caught his critics off-guard with the decision to hold a snap presidential election.

Dean C.K. Cox and Joanna Lillis Mar 31, 2011
image

Kazakhstan’s president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, caught his critics, including opposition political leaders, non-governmental organization activists and youth group members, off-guard with the decision to hold a snap presidential election April 3. The surprise helped keep administration critics from coming together for the presidential campaign, resulting in mixed messages being sent to the electorate.

While some opposition parties and leaders have agreed to boycott the vote, which they claim is unconstitutional, others believe that staying away from the polls would be damaging to the political process. Although the anti-boycott segment of the opposition has declined to field a candidate, its leaders say that participation in the election could improve the chances of the Nazarbayev’s political opponents winning seats in the next parliamentary election.

Dean C.K. Cox is the photo editor for Eurasianet. Joanna Lillis is a freelance writer who specializes in Central Asia.

Sign up for Eurasianet's free weekly newsletter. Support Eurasianet: Help keep our journalism open to all, and influenced by none.

Related

Kazakhstan: Court hands down long sentences to Petropavlovsk separatists
Kyrgyzstan: People’s assembly lambasted as power grab
Turkmenistan: Return to sender

Popular

Kazakhstan: Court hands down long sentences to Petropavlovsk separatists
Almaz Kumenov
Kyrgyzstan: People’s assembly lambasted as power grab
Ayzirek Imanaliyeva
Azerbaijan escalates "U.S. spy" rhetoric, arrests another journalist

Eurasianet

  • About
  • Team
  • Contribute
  • Republishing
  • Privacy Policy
  • Corrections
  • Contact
Eurasianet © 2023