A new prime minister has been appointed in Kazakhstan – nra.lv

Kazakh President Kasim Zhomart Tokayev has signed an order to appoint Alihan Smailov as prime minister.

“Appoint Aliyan Smailov as Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan,” the order said.

The House of Commons on Tuesday supported Tokayev’s proposal to nominate Smailov as prime minister.

In accordance with the constitution, the President, after consulting the parties represented in the House of Commons, nominates to this House the office of Prime Minister for approval of his appointment.

Since January 2022, Smailov has held the position of First Deputy Prime Minister.

He was once Minister of Finance, Assistant to the President, President of the National Holding Kazagro, and Chairman of the State Statistics Agency.

Former Prime Minister Askar Mamayev and his government resigned on January 5 amid protests.

Tokajev confirmed on Monday that constitutional order had been restored in Kazakhstan after last week’s unprecedented protests, which sometimes escalated into riots and violence.

Protests against the sharp rise in liquefied gas prices reportedly began on January 2 in Zhanaozen, in the southwest of the country.

In the following days, however, protests took over the whole of Kazakhstan, and political demands began to emerge alongside economic ones. The protesters demanded, among other things, the complete departure of former President Nursultan Nazarbayev and his clan.

Tokayev requested the deployment of a contingent of the military alliance with Russia and its allies on the evening of January 5, when government forces had effectively lost control of Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city.

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