In Kazakhstan, a new version of the Constitution allowed Tokayevʼs previous presidential term to be “reset”. He will be able to run again in the elections

The new version of the Constitution of Kazakhstan will allow President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to again participate in the presidential elections.

This is stated in the clarification of the countryʼs Constitutional Court.

The court responded to Tokayevʼs request to provide an official interpretation of some provisions of the new Constitution, which was adopted in March 2026 and entered into force on July 1.

The new version of the document states that the president is elected for a term of seven years, and the same person cannot be elected to this position more than once.

However, the court clarified: the new rules do not take into account previous terms of office since 1995 (when the previous version of the Constitution of Kazakhstan was adopted). Therefore, after the new version of the Constitution came into force, such an election or appointment will be considered the first.

• The new Constitution of Kazakhstan was drafted in 22 days and approved in a republican referendum. The new version strengthens the power of the president in the country. Tokayev has been president of Kazakhstan since March 2019. He became the second president. The first Nursultan Nazarbayev had been in power since April 1990.
• The “resetting” of presidential terms, which is justified by the adoption of a new Constitution or significant amendments to it, is not new, especially in the post-Soviet space. Previously, Putin, the self-proclaimed President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, and Tokayev’s predecessor Nazarbayev did something similar. There is also such a precedent in the history of independent Ukraine.
• In 2003, the Constitutional Court allowed then-President Leonid Kuchma to run for a third consecutive term: since the Constitution was adopted in 1996, and his first term began in 1994. However, Kuchma did not run in the 2004 elections.

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