Kazakhstan: MPs back referendum to extend leader's rule till 2020
Kazakhstan's parliament on Friday voted unanimously in favour of a referendum to extend President Nursultan Nazarbayev's term for a third decade, a move that would allow the veteran leader to bypass an election in 2012.
The national referendum, which the United States has called a "setback for democracy", would clear the way for Nazarbayev to lead Central Asia's largest economy unopposed until 2020. "The people want Nursultan Abishevich to continue building and strengthening our state, and the will of our people is law," said Yerlan Nigmatulin, a deputy in the Mazhilis lower house of parliament, referring to the president by name and patronymic. (Reuters)
