In September 2022, President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Joomart Tokayev signed the law on amendments to some legislative acts of Kazakhstan on cinematography, culture and holidays. The Day of the First President, which was celebrated on December 1st, is excluded from the list of public holidays.
When is Kazakhstan First President's Day?
This public holiday is celebrated annually on December 1st. If December 1st falls on a weekend, the following Monday will be a holiday.
The official name of the holiday is the Day of the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan and it marks the first presidential elections that were held on December 1st 1991 in Kazakhstan after the break-up of the Soviet Union.
History of Kazakhstan First President's Day
Nursultan Nazarbayev had been the leader of Kazakhstan since 1989 when he was named First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Kazakh SSR. In 1990, Nazarbayev was named the first President of Kazakhstan by the Supreme Soviet.
Following the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Kazakhstan was the last of the Soviet republics to declare independence, four days after Russia.
Nazarbayev was elected as the First President of Kazakhstan on December 1st 1991.
The constitution of Kazakhstan states that the President should only serve a maximum of two five-year terms. In 2007, the Parliament of Kazakhstan approved a constitutional amendment which allowed Nazarbayev alone to serve as many terms as necessary reflecting Nazarbayev's importance as a figure in Kazakhstan.
On March 19th 2019, Nazarbayev announced he was stepping down and Kassym-Jomart Tokayev became Kazakhstan's Second President a day later.
First President's day has been a public holiday in Kazakhstan since 2011 when the Kazakh Senate issued a law introducing the new holiday to honour Nursultan Nazarbayev’s contribution to the development of Kazakhstan.
