Law on constitutional amendments approved - Kazakh President office

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Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed a law on constitutional amendments, which includes the introduction of a seven-year presidency term and the renaming of the capital back to Astana, the president's office said on Saturday.  

The Kazakh parliament ratified in the first reading on September 16 the amendments to the national constitution on the 7-year presidential term and the renaming of the capital Nur-Sultan back to Astana. 

"The head of state signed a law of the Republic of Kazakhstan on introducing amendments and changes to the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan" the statement read.    

On September 1, Tokayev proposed to limit the term of a presidential mandate to seven years without the right to re-election. Kazakhstan's president is presently elected for a term of five years and not more than two consecutive times.    

In March 2019, Astana was renamed into Nur-Sultan to honor Kazakhstan's first president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, who was at the time finishing his almost 30-year tenure. His successor, incumbent President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, put forth the initiative and enshrined it the same day into the constitution by the parliament.

Chairman of the Central Election Commission (CEC) in Kazakhstan Nurlan Abdirov said in June that 77.18% of Kazakh voters who participated in the referendum on June 5 backed the constitutional amendments.

Abdirov told a CEC meeting that "[A total of] 77.18% of those who took part in the voting in all regions of the country, or 6,163,516 people, voted for the constitutional amendments. This amounted to an absolute majority in each of the 17 regions," stressing that the amendments to the constitution "go into effect from the date of publication of the official report on the results of the referendum."