Kasachstan

Over 76% of Kazakh voters approved on Sunday (5 June) the constitutional changes aimed at political reform put to a referendum by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, with 68.44% or 8 million citizens turning out to vote, according to exit polls.

Organizers admit that few people understand the proposed changes to the constitution, and yet also claim that most people back them.

The TITR (Trans-Caspian International Transport Route), known as the Middle Corridor, is an international development linking China's rail freight transport networks with the European Union, bypassing Russia. Launched in 2017, the project links Caspian Sea and Black Sea ferry terminals with rail systems in China, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, Ukraine, and Poland.

Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has announced a national referendum on his proposed amendments to the county’s constitution and warned against what he described as “provocateurs who are trying to undermine the unity in the country”. … In March, Tokayev proposed constitutional reforms to limit the powers of the president’s office, … .

In an exclusive interview, Timur Suleimenov, the first deputy chief of staff to the president of Kazakhstan, discussed the war in Ukraine, the impact of Western sanctions on his country, the drive for modernisation following the January unrest and changing geopolitical balances.

Constitutional reforms to limit the powers of the president’s office have been announced by Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who says the country needs to switch from “superpresidential” rule to a presidential republic with a strong parliament.

Weeks after the conclusion of bloody protests across Kazakhstan, attention in the Central Asian nation has turned to whether the government is capable of impartially investigating their origins — and of moving toward greater democracy.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on the Kazakh authorities to invite international experts to join its domestic investigative efforts into serious human rights violations during a deadly wave of unrest in the country last month.

Talking to representatives of the oil-rich nation's leading businesses on January 21, Toqaev said "real reforms" and "deep transformation of the social structures" are needed to address problems brought up by some of the protesters.

Security forces blocked several downtown streets and cordoned off one of the squares in Kazakhstan’s biggest city Almaty on Wednesday (19 January) as an opposition group planned to stage protests, a Reuters correspondent reported from the scene.