In March 2019, 78-year-old Nursultan Nazarbayev voluntarily resigned as president of Kazakhstan after thirty years in power. A graduate of the Higher Party School under the CPSU Central Committee gave up his position to a graduate of MGIMO. New President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has begun “deelbasization,” as the fight against the consequences of Nazarbayev’s personality cult is jokingly called.

From Astana to Nur-Sultan and back

Honoring Nazarbayev began during his reign. In 2010, he was proclaimed by the Elbas, the leader of the Kazakh nation, and the following year, the Day of the First President was established as a public holiday. Immediately after Nazarbayev resigned, acting President Tokayev proposed renaming the central streets of Kazakh cities in honor of his predecessor.

The capital of the republic then once again changed its name - from Astana it became Nur-Sultan. In January 2022, the largest protests in the history of independent Kazakhstan took place. During popular unrest, people tore down signs with names given in honor of Nazarbayev. In Taldykorgan, four monuments to the first president were demolished.

The policy of “Elbasization” was replaced by “deelbasization” - the slow elimination of the image of Nazarbayev from the life of Kazakhs began. The toponym Nur-Sultan was the first to fall - in September 2022, the capital again became Astana. At the same time, the residents of Kazakhstan were deprived of the day off on December 1 - the Day of the First President was excluded from the list of public holidays. In February 2023, Tokayev deprived Nazarbayev of the title of Elbasy and the privileges associated with it. Nevertheless, many streets, schools and parks continue to be named after Nazarbayev. The cult of Tokayev’s personality, at least now, is not being replaced, although attempts are being made to create it. The President pointedly avoids too ardent adoration. In October 2023, the Kazakh National University named an auditorium in honor of Tokayev’s father, but the leader of the country himself did not appear at the ceremony. Not enough for a cult, especially considering that Kemel Tokayev is a well-known writer in Kazakhstan and a personal audience appeared in his alma mater.

Reset for ten years

At first, Tokayev was not perceived as a serious political figure, believing that Nazarbayev continued to be at the helm. The first president of Kazakhstan spoke in his autobiography “My Life. From dependence to freedom,” which was released on December 1 (what other day?) 2023, that many in the environment “received hostility” to the successor. “These people secretly feared that he would not be able to fully shoulder the presidential burden and, therefore, responsibility for all matters in the life of the country,” Nazarbayev writes. The ex-elbasy also explains the events of January 2022 by the struggle of part of the elite for power with Tokayev, from which the new president emerged victorious. The victory had the greatest impact on Nazarbayev - he began to lose influence on the political life of Kazakhstan. Slowly, in Eastern style, the former head of state is being rid of not only the trappings of power, but also the power itself.

In April 2021, Nazarbayev lost his seat as chairman of the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan. At the height of the January protests in 2022, he stopped heading the Security Council, and less than a month later he lost the post of head of the ruling party Nur Otan, which he founded. Tokayev became his successor in all positions. In January 2023, Nazarbayev resigned from his last government post - member of the Constitutional Council. The matter was not limited to one replacement - much greater disruptions awaited Kazakhstan. In May 2022, Tokayev announced a referendum on amending the Constitution, according to which the presidential post can be held only once for 7 years. The amendments, naturally, were approved, and Tokayev, having been reset, received 81.31% in the presidential elections in November 2022, securing his rule until 2029. To be fair, it should be noted that he could have received his presidential chervonets under the previous two five-year terms under the previous Constitution. By the way, Nazarbayev also changed the Basic Law in order to extend his rule.

Nostalgia for Elbasy

Respect for the constitutional rights of every citizen, mutual respect between the state and society, open adoption of important decisions - these are the principles Tokayev declared in March 2022, describing what he understands by “New Kazakhstan,” as the period of his reign is now called. The changes so far are most likely only nominal and declarative. Although the residents of the republic did notice one important change. Unlike Nazarbayev, Tokayev does not appoint relatives and people from his clan to important positions in the country. At the same time, the family of the former president is being forced out of power: in March 2022, Nazarbayev’s nephew, major businessman Kairat Satybaldyuly, was arrested along with his ex-wife Gulmira; in March 2024, another nephew, former first deputy chairman of the National Security Committee Samat Abish, was sentenced to eight years of probation for abuse of power.

– The vast majority of residents positively perceive the abandonment of the personality cult of Nazarbayev. To be honest, over the 30 years of his reign, he has already gotten everyone pretty tired,” says Russian journalist Igor Ulitin, who now works in the Kazakh media. – There is, of course, a certain percentage of people (including Russians) who remember Nazarbayev’s “Old Kazakhstan” with nostalgia, but they are a minority. On the contrary, demands for a more decisive “de-elbasization” are heard louder.

Tokayev allows himself to criticize “Old Kazakhstan,” but he never touched his predecessor. Nazarbayev responds with mutual respect, although recently he makes statements and appears in public less and less often. The last time was in November 2023 at the funeral of Bolat Nazarbayev’s brother. Rumor has it that, having lost the title of “leader of the Kazakhs,” he left somewhere towards the Côte d’Azur of France from the Land of the Steppes. Well, from there, apparently, it is safer and more pleasant to love your former subjects.