Experts: Tokayev’s potential competitors have little time to prepare

Having announced early presidential elections in Kazakhstan, the current president of the country, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, if he wins them, increases his powers from 8 years to 10 years, said Karlygash Yezhenova, director of Exclusive Publishing House LLP, Report informs citing Inbusiness.kz.

She noted that the incumbent president has a fairly high rating among the population. "On a scale of about 56 to 80 percent. Tokayev feels this level of support and boldly takes this step [early presidential elections]," she said, adding that there was no alternative, because his potential competitors have too little time to prepare.

In turn, Kazakh political scientist Talgat Kaliev sees no alternative to Tokayev in the upcoming elections, either: "It is unlikely that anyone will be able to run a presidential campaign quickly. It means big finances and human resources to cover all regions and campaign."

"As for the term of 7 years, this is a defense against populism. When the elections are looming in 7 years, and not in 2 years, the president can act boldly in carrying out his reforms," ​​the political scientist summed up.