Nursultan Nazarbayev - Schanaosen - Kazakhstan - Abolishes Election of President

state of emergency in Kazakh oil town

At the celebration of the Independence Day protests in the oil city Schanaosen came several people were killed. 

President Nazarbayev declared a state of emergency.

After heavy clashes with at least eleven dead, the Kazakh head of state Nursultan Nazarbayev declared a state of emergency in the city Schanaosen. Public protests and strikes were initially 5 to January 2012 prohibited. Until then also applied a curfew, authorities said. 

In clashes between striking oil workers and the police were yesterday on Kazakh Independence Day Eleven people were killed and 86 were injured.According to the Attorney General's Office about 70 protesters were arrested. 

Young people and oil workers had at the celebration of Independence Day stormed a hard stage and buildings and cars set on fire. Riot police armed with sticks and forced the firebombs amount later with tear gas. 

Strike against exploitation and for higher wages 

In the city near the Caspian Sea workers demand higher wages and protesting for months against their exploitation. According to union claims had yesterday about 3,000 demonstrators gathered in the city center. 

Kazakhstan had on 16 Declared in December 1991 as the last of 15 Soviet republics independence. President Nazarbayev ruled the desert state since Soviet times.

 

Kazakhstan abolishes Election of the President

In Kazakhstan to the upcoming presidential election in favor of a referendum fail. The current president Nazarbayev could thus remain in office until 2020.

The Kazakh parliament has voted for a constitutional amendment, with the presidential elections to be abolished in 2012 and 2017. Instead, should the people in a referendum, the office of the Head of State Nursultan Nazarbayev extended, media reported from the capital Astana . According to official figures, more than half of the nine million registered voters have signed a petition, which Nazarbayev should officiate until 2020. "The will of the people is the law," said the deputy of Jerlan Nigmatulin.

The federal government sharply criticized the plan. The decision is contrary to the principles of democracy and good governance, including the country recently at the Summit of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Astana have known explicitly, government spokesmanSteffen Seibert in Berlin . Kazakhstan was the 2010 OSCE Chairmanship.

The Director of the OSCE Office for Democracy and Human Rights, Janez Lenarcic, said the proposed referendum violates the Charter of Human Rights United Nations. Even the European Union and the United States criticized the plans as undemocratic.

Parliamentarians had founded the initiative so that there is no alternative to the 70-year-old Nazarbayev. Therefore, elections were "a waste of money." Only last year the Parliament of the oil-and gas-rich desert state had the head of state to the "leader of the nation" appointed for life. Critics accuse the president before the other hand, suppression of the opposition and human rights violations.

Investors under the decision of the Parliament should meet with approval, however, it promises but political stability. "The status quo is contrary to the political and economic elite," said analyst Dosim Satpajew. "It is in their interest that Nazarbayev as long as possible remains in power, by any means necessary." Foreign investors have in the past 20 years of the reign of Nazarbayev invested 150 billion dollars in the country. As the biggest risk is an uncertain succession.