2015 Kazakh presidential election

Incumbent President Nursultan Nazarbayev was elected for a fourth term in the 2011 Kazakh presidential election, winning over 95% of the vote. From there, he promised in continuing economic, political and social reforms.[3] During that time, the Kazakh government had received criticism from the opposition in the country and internationally due to Nur Otan's single-party control of the Parliament which it gained in 2007. Minor parties made their eventual return to the lower-house Mazhilis in 2012 although they were considered to be loyal to the authorities.[4] Complaints of human rights abuses continued in the country as the Kazakh government was accused on cracking and shutting down independent media outlets and opposition groups that mostly covered the Zhanaozen massacre where the police opened fire on striking oil workers, which resulted in deaths of 12 people.[5]

Despite the poor record of human rights and lack of improvements in democracy, Kazakhstan continued in having a huge economic growth thanks to its stabilized oil and gas industry.[6] On 15 December 2012, during an address to the nation, Nazarbayev unveiled the Kazakhstan 2050 Strategy economic plan which aimed to bring the country into the top 30 most developed nations by 2050.[7] In 2013, Kazakhstan reached its highest annual GDP record with $236.6 billion, making it the biggest in Central Asia and placing it 45th in the world.[8] However, the economic growth became short-lived after on 11 February 2014, when the Kazakh tenge lost its value by 19%, worse since 2009 after Russia faced its ruble currency value loss.[9][10] Due to international sanctions that were imposed on Russia, Kazakhstan's main trading partner, after the annexation of Crimea in March 2014, trade between those two countries decreased by 24.6%.[11] This sparked unusual public protests in the country which resulted in Nazarbayev's dismissal of the government led by Prime Minister Serik Akhmetov and the reappointment of Karim Massimov to the post.[12] As a result of the oil price crash which began in September 2014, the Kazakh government resorted in cutting budget spending as the price of oil amounted to 25% of Kazakhstan's GDP.[13] In an attempt to bolster economic growth, Nazarbayev in his presidential address on 11 November 2014 announced an economic stimulus plan named Nurly Zhol, which would allocate $3 billion from the reserve fund a year to fund the program's various parts.[14]

On 14 February 2015, the People's Assembly unanimously voted on the initiative to move presidential elections forward from 2016 to 2015. One motivation was that a snap election would help the development of the country; another one was that it is a disadvantage to hold both presidential and parliamentary elections in the same year.[15] On 18 February, the Mazhilis unanimously asked President Nursultan Nazarbayev to move the elections.[16] On 19 February, the Senate followed. In the first vote, there was one vote against the initiative. The senators were asked to vote again, and the second vote was unanimous. The first vote was officially explained as a technical error.[17]

On 25 February, Nazarbayev signed a decree scheduling the presidential elections for 26 April 2015. He also confirmed that he would run.[1]

• Nursultan Nazarbayev – Incumbent President of Kazakhstan, leader of Nur Otan
• Turgyn Syzdyqov – Communist People's Party of Kazakhstan candidate
• Äbilgazy Qusaiynov – Independent candidate, Incumbent Chairman of the Federation of Trade Unions of Kazakhstan

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) criticized the election, saying that "there is a lack of a credible opposition in the country." It also said that "[v]oters were not offered a genuine choice between political alternatives," and that "[t]here were significant restrictions to the freedom of expression, as well as to the media environment."[18]