Mels Hamzauly Eleusizov (, ''Mels Hamzaūly Eleusızov''; born 20 March 1950) is a Kazakh political activist and ecologist who is the Chairman of Tabigat Ecological Union. He campaigned in many of Kazakhstan's elections, mostly notably in the

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

and 2011 presidential elections.

Biography

Early life and education

Eleusizov was born in 1950 in the city of

Alma-Ata Almaty (; kk, Алматы; ), formerly known as Alma-Ata ( kk, Алма-Ата), is the largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population of about 2 million. It was the capital of Kazakhstan from 1929 to 1936 as an autonomous republic as part of t ...

(now Almaty). From 1968 to 1970, he served in the

Soviet Army uk, Радянська армія , image = File:Communist star with golden border and red rims.svg , alt = , caption = Emblem of the Soviet Army , start_date ...

as a reserve captain before becoming a flight attendant, and Secretary of the Komsomol Committee of the Alma-Ata United Air Squadron. From 1975, Eleusizov worked in ARO-2, Jetysu shoe association, signaling and communication distance of the Alma-Ata railway while being the Head of the operational Komsomol Detachment of the Oktyabrsky District. In 1981, he graduated from the

Al-Farabi Kazakh National University Al-Farabi Kazakh National University ( kz, Әл-Фараби атындағы Қазақ ұлттық университеті, Äl-Farabi atyndağy Qazaq Ūlttyq Universitetı), also called KazGU or KazNU, is a university in Almaty, Kazakhstan. ...

with a degree in law. In 1982, Eleusizov became the Deputy General Director of the Zerger Production Association. In 1984, he was the chief engineer of the military state farm of the Alma-Ata Central Asian military district until he became the Deputy Director of the Kazgiprovodkhoz Institute.

Political career

In December 1989, Eleusizov became the Chairman of the Tabigat Ecological Union of Associations and Enterprises of Kazakhstan. Since 1993, he has repeatedly spoken about plans to transform his eco-union into a political party, but so far his attempts have been unsuccessful. He has campaigned many years for legislative and presidential elections. In 2005, Eleusizov won 0.28% of the vote. Then in

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

with 1.15% of the vote, where he himself admitted voting for

Nursultan Nazarbayev Nursultan Abishuly Nazarbayev ( kk, Нұрсұлтан Әбішұлы Назарбаев, Nūrsūltan Äbişūlı Nazarbaev, ; born 6 July 1940) is a Kazakh politician and military officer who served as the first President of Kazakhstan, in off ...

. On 12 March 2015, Eleusizov announced his candidacy in the

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 ...

, however, days later on 17 March, he dropped out of the race citing lack of funds and time for his campaign.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eleusizov, Mels 1950 births Living people People from Almaty Kazakhstani politicians Ecologists Al-Farabi Kazakh National University alumni