2015 Kazakh Presidential Election

Snap presidential elections were held in Kazakhstan on 26 April 2015 to elect the President of Kazakhstan. This was the fifth presidential election held and second without having any formal opposition candidates. With the highest-ever nationwide turnout of 95.2%, the result was a victory for long-term incumbent President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Nur Otan who received 97.8% of the vote, the largest since 1991, thus winning a fifth term in office while his closest challenger, Turgyn Syzdyqov, received only 1.6% of the votes.

Having been originally scheduled for 2016, the election was held a year earlier after numerous calls and support from the Assembly of People of Kazakhstan, the Parliament, as well as political parties for President Nursultan Nazarbayev to support a snap election in order to properly continue the country's development and to avoid for Mazhilis elections to be held simultaneously which were also set for the following year. After the Constitutional Council ruling on 25 February 2015, which stated that the president has the authority to call for snap elections, Nazarbayev that same day signed a decree setting the election date for 26 April.

Nominations of candidates began following the established election day. Of all registered political parties, only two took a decision to participate in the elections by nominating candidates of which were incumbent president Nursultan Nazarbayev from the Nur Otan, and Turgyn Syzdyqov from the Communist People's Party of Kazakhstan while the rest of pro-government parties all endorsed Nazarbayev except for the opposition Nationwide Social Democratic Party. Numerous self-nominees announced their presidential bids in which most of them later withdrew or rejected by the Central Election Commission except for Äbilgazy Qusaiynov, the incumbent chairman of the Federation of Trade Unions of Kazakhstan, leaving the race to be contested by just three candidates, the least of all Kazakhstan's elections.

Campaigning took place in midst of an economic crisis following the 2010s oil glut and the devaluation of the Russian ruble, which severely impacted the Kazakh economy as the solution to the issues during the elections regarding the country's economy were raised, along with the continued Nazarbayev's reforms, social, environmental and industrial safety problems. Despite different proposals and idea from candidates, most of the platforms made by Nazarbayev were the most visible and known to the public.

On 29 April 2015, President Nazarbayev was inaugurated at the Palace of Independence in Astana after winning re-election bid, to which the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe reported "serious procedural deficiencies and irregularities" and that voters were offered limited choices. From there, Nazarbayev pledged to implement his proposed five institutional reforms. He continued serving his fifth and final term before eventually resigning in 2019.

Background

Incumbent President Nursultan Nazarbayev was elected for a fourth term in the 2011 Kazakh presidential election, winning over 95% of the vote. From there, he promised in continuing economic, political and social reforms. During that time, the Kazakh government had received criticism from the opposition in the country and internationally due to Nur Otan's single-party control of the Parliament which it gained in 2007. Minor parties made their eventual return to the lower-house Mazhilis in 2012 although they were considered to be loyal to the authorities. Complaints of human rights abuses continued in the country as the Kazakh government was accused on cracking and shutting down independent media outlets and opposition groups that mostly covered the Zhanaozen massacre where the police opened fire on striking oil workers, which resulted in deaths of 12 people.

Despite the poor record of human rights and lack of improvements in democracy, Kazakhstan continued in having a huge economic growth thanks to its stabilized oil and gas industry. In December 2012, during an address to the nation, Nazarbayev unveiled the Kazakhstan 2050 Strategy economic plan which aimed to bring the country into the top 30 most developed nations by 2050. In 2013, Kazakhstan reached its highest annual GDP record with $236.6 billion, making it the biggest in Central Asia and placing it 45th in the world. However, the economic growth became short-lived after on 11 February 2014, when the Kazakh tenge lost its value by 19%, worse since 2009 after Russia faced its ruble currency value loss. Due to international sanctions that were imposed on Russia, Kazakhstan's main trading partner, after the annexation of Crimea in March 2014, trade between those two countries decreased by 24.6%. This sparked unusual public protests in the country which resulted in Nazarbayev's dismissal of the government led by Prime Minister Serik Akhmetov and the reappointment of Karim Massimov

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