Kazakhstan's constitution carved out a special exception for its first president
Kazakhstan limits its presidents to two consecutive terms, except for one man. A clause in the constitution exempted the country's first leader, Nursultan Nazarbayev, who held the office for nearly three decades and was granted lifelong immunity for everything he did while in power.
The presidency was created in 1990, a year before the Soviet Union collapsed, and Nazarbayev became its first holder. He was re-elected to a fifth term on 26 April 2015 and resigned in March 2019. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev took over as acting president on 20 March and won the vote held that June, the first since the founding leader stepped down. International monitors from the OSCE criticised that election, citing closed critical media outlets and jailed opposition activists, and Western observers have raised similar concerns about earlier contests.
The office carries heavy powers. The president is head of state, commands the armed forces, chairs the National Security Council, appoints the prime minister and ministers, issues decrees and can declare a state of emergency. The constitution also calls the president's honour and dignity inviolable, with expenses paid by the state. A separate constitutional act gives the first president absolute and unlimited immunity for acts in office, keeps him a state official until death, and turned his official apartment and summer residence into personal property, along with guards, transport and medical care.
Candidates must be citizens aged at least 40 who speak Kazakh perfectly and have lived in the country for 15 years. Voters now choose a president directly for a seven-year term, and anyone short of a majority faces a runoff against the second-placed candidate. If a president cannot serve, the vice president steps in until a new election.
The trappings are distinctive. The presidential standard follows the flag's 1:2 proportions with the national emblem at its centre and gold fringe on three sides. From 1995 to 2012 it instead showed a young Saka leader riding a snow leopard inside a golden circle. The president also heads the Order of the Golden Eagle, the country's highest civilian honour, and works from the Akorda residence.
Source: President of Kazakhstan
