Kazakh court annuls law on ex-president

The Kazakh Constitutional Court has issued a resolution declaring the constitutional law "On the first president of Kazakhstan - the Elbasy" null and void. The Elbasy, or the Leader of the Nation, is former President Nursultan Nazarbayev's title that he has held since 2010.

"Based on the will of Kazakhstan's people expressed in the national referendum on 5 June 2022 on removing from the constitution Article 46 Paragraph 4 and other norms, the constitution currently contains no legal foundations to preserve the constitutional law 'On the first president of Kazakhstan - the Elbasy' in Kazakhstan's current legislation, due to which the law is declared null and void," the Constitutional Court explained in the resolution, Tengrinews.kz reported on January 11.

The court was responding to a request filed by MPs on January 5 to clarify whether or not the law in question ceased to be in force after the constitutional norms on the first president's status and privileges had been removed by the referendum.

On January 11, both houses of Kazakhstan's parliament chose candidates for a joint parliamentary commission to declare that the constitutional law on the first president had been repealed. This will be done at a joint session, but its date has not yet been announced.

In February 2022, parliament passed a law abolishing Nazarbayev's life chairmanship of the country's Security Council and Peoples' Assembly after nationwide anti-government protests in January that escalated into deadly riots. The unrest resulted in the sidelining of Nazarbayev, who had maintained significant political influence despite stepping down as president in 2019.

At a referendum in June 2022, Kazakhstan adopted constitutional amendments stripping Nazarbayev of his status as Elbasy, officially marking his fall from grace.