New Kazakh leader gives his predecessor’s daughter a crucial post
In Kazakhstan, the senate speaker — now Dariga Nazarbayeva — assumes presidential powers in the event of the president's resignation or death
Astana — Kazakhstan’s new president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, handed the key post of senate speaker on Wednesday to a daughter of his predecessor Nursultan Nazarbayev, who unexpectedly resigned a day earlier after three decades in power. Nazarbayev stepped down late on Tuesday in what appeared to be the first step in a choreographed political transition that will see him retain considerable sway over the Central Asian nation of 18-million people. His daughter Dariga Nazarbayeva’s promotion — which was former speaker Tokayev’s first major move after being inaugurated — raises her profile as a potential successor. Under Kazakhstan's constitution, the senate speaker assumes presidential powers in the event of the president's resignation or death. Tokayev, a career diplomat fluent in Russian, English and Chinese, will serve for the rest of the presidential term ending in April 2020. He promised on Wednesday to continue Nazarbayev's policies. "[Nazarbayev's] opinion will have special, one ...
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