Kassym-Jomart Tokayev

Kassym-Jomart Tokayev (born May 17, 1953, Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan, U.S.S.R. [now Almaty, Kazakhstan]) is a Kazakh diplomat and politician who served as Kazakhstan’s prime minister (1999–2002) and as its second president (2019– ) after it gained independence. He also served as director general of the United Nations Office at Geneva (2011–13).

Political career

Tokayev joined the foreign ministry of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.) in 1975 after completing a degree at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations. He was stationed at the Soviet embassy in Beijing from 1985 until the collapse of the U.S.S.R. in 1991. Upon Kazakhstan’s independence, he attained senior rank within the new country’s foreign ministry, and in 1994 Pres. Nursultan Nazarbayev appointed him minister of foreign affairs. During his tenure the disarmament of Kazakhstan’s nuclear arsenal was completed.

When the incumbent prime minister resigned in 1999, Tokayev—an experienced senior member of government who had developed extensive foreign relationships as foreign minister—was appointed to take his place. Although the country’s economic performance was highly successful under his premiership, political instability prompted his resignation in early 2002. After stepping down he returned to his work in the foreign ministry.

In 2007 he was appointed to the Senate and was elected as its chair. Four years later United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon appointed Tokayev to head the United Nations Office at Geneva, owing to his active role in nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament. He left the post two years later to return to Kazakhstan as head of the Senate. First in line in the order of presidential succession, he took over as president of Kazakhstan when Nazarbayev resigned in March 2019. He was elected to the office two months later when a snap presidential election was held.

Presidency

Tokayev’s first few years as president were generally regarded as transitional in scope. Nazarbayev, the constitutionally designated “Leader of the Nation,” continued to hold key policy-making posts, but he gradually relinquished them to Tokayev. In April 2021 Tokayev took over chairmanship of the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan, a body tasked with representing the country’s several ethnic groups, and in November he assumed leadership of the ruling party, Nur Otan, from Nazarbayev. The party was renamed Amanat in March 2022—thus removing the “Nur” that was also found in Nazarbayev’s first name—and the following month Tokayev handed over the party’s leadership to the speaker of the Mazhilis (the lower house of the parliament).

Despite promises to advance political freedom and human rights in Kazakhstan, liberalization was confined to economic development, while political opposition remained suppressed. At the start of 2022 the government ended price caps on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) as part of a plan to liberalize the energy market and end fuel shortages. The move backfired, however, as the price of LPG doubled, prompting demonstrations across the country. The government in its initial response reinstated the price caps, and the prime minister resigned from his post. However, as unrest continued, Tokayev took over leadership of the security council from Nazarbayev and ensured that the protests were brutally suppressed.

The incident proved a watershed for Tokayev’s independence from Nazarbayev. He blamed much of the country’s ills on a system of elitism and nepotism created by the policies of the former president and promised reforms to address those problems. In June a series of constitutional amendments were put to referendum that would make the executive branch more accountable to other branches and local leaders, create obstacles for nepotism, and strip Nazarbayev of his “Leader of the Nation” title and its associated privileges. The amendments were approved in a landslide, a result that many observers believed demonstrated popular support for Tokayev and his agenda.

Get Unlimited Access

Try Britannica Premium for free and discover more.

Subscribe

Seeking to shore up support in the aftermath of the instability, Tokayev called in September for early presidential and legislative elections. With little time for any opposition to mobilize to compete, he won the presidential election in November in a landslide. In a similar fashion (and for a similar purpose), in January 2023 Tokayev called for snap parliamentary elections to be held in March. The results indicated that Amanat had lost support since the previous general election but, as before, won a majority of the vote.