Moscow: The capital of Kazakhstan has been changed back to Astana. After gaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Kazakhstan moved its capital from Almaty to Astana. Nursultan Nazarbayev ruled as president for about 30 years. In 2019, his political successor Kasim Zomart Togayev took over as president. He renamed the capital Astana to Nur Sultan in 2019. Meanwhile, people in Kazakhstan have been up in arms against Tokayev’s rule over issues including unprecedented hikes in gasoline prices.
As a result, 200 civilians lost their lives in the violent protests last January. Thus, President Togayev agreed to carry out political and social reforms. The first step was to change the name of the capital back to Astana and increase the term of office of the president from 5 years to 7 years. It was approved by the country’s parliament and signed by President Dogayev yesterday. It is noted that the same person cannot contest for the post of President more than 2 times.