Three days after winning some 71 percent of the vote in a snap presidential election in which "significant irregularities" were noted by a leading international election monitor, Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev was sworn in as Kazakhstan's second president on June 12, 2019.
Hundreds of Kazakhs came into the streets of the two capitals and all other major cities of that country to demand a credit amnesty, a reversal of privatization into the hands of foreigners, and the liberation of political prisoners, the broadest such wave of protests in years and one that reflects the impact of the pandemic there.
But the riot police seem to have arrived first
The squabbling is good news for a regime that relentlessly tries to divide and conquer the opposition.
If it walks like a president, talks like a president, and has powers on par with a president…
Pensioner Ernazar Perneev had just arrived at Nauryz Square in Kazakhstan's southern city of Shymkent on October 26 when he was confronted by a representative from the mayor's office.
The consensus among Kazakhstan watchers is that the former president is trying to contain his successor.
Former Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev used an extended interview on state television on October 11 to downplay his continuing influence and defer to his successor, condemn "traitors" abroad for allegedly trying to stoke unrest, and generally praise his 29-year rule that ended earlier this year.
An independent polling agency in Kazakhstan has found in a nationwide survey that 43 percent of respondents view demonstrations as a force for good.
