Part 1. The referendum.
I had a dream as if the President of Kazakhstan Kassym – Jomart Tokayev was giving an interview to the independent press. The President is sitting in a small office with several journalists from different publications in front of him. They ask questions in a chaotic manner. It is clear that the questions were not prepared in advance and were not distributed to them by the director.
Journalist of the online publication “DAT”:
– Kassym – Jomart Kemelevich, tell me, please, how do you assess the results of the referendum on amendments to the Constitution held on June 5, 2022?
President Tokayev:
– I highly appreciate the results of the referendum. The overwhelming majority of Kazakhstanis chose the course of “New Kazakhstan”, gave a clear answer that they do not want to continue living under authoritarianism and want to permanently abandon the existence of special statuses, such as the Elbasy, the First President, and so on. I believe that the society has given an unambiguous answer to the question posed.
Journalist of the online publication “DAT”:
– Kassym–Jomart Kemelevich, do you know about the facts of fraud and forced participation of civil servants, employees of the quasi-public sector, students in this referendum?
President Tokayev:
– Yes, I have received information about such individual facts, and, believe me, I am no less outraged than you. I do not know who gave the command to the performers to do all this. If the executors did it on their own initiative, then why did they think that I, as the leader of the country and the initiator of the referendum, needed it?
I think that many regional leaders still have a desire to show their zeal and loyalty to their region in front of the leadership. Apparently, they think that this way they will get more favor from me. In fact, this is not the case. I do not think that the greater support of citizens for my initiatives in the referendum means a better job of the head of this region.
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