Strategy Kazakhstan 2050 Presidential Address by Nursultan Nazarbayev, December 14, 2012

1. Election of the rural governors
We will provide villages, rural governors with additional powers to improve
their influence on the situation in villages.
However, at the same time we need to improve public control and citizens’
influence on the situation on the ground. Therefore I decided to introduce
appointment by election of the rural governors through local councils. We
will start the elections in 2013.
In total 2533 governors will be elected, including governors of rural districts,
villages and 50 governors of towns of regional significance.
This makes 91.7% of governors of all levels! Thus election process will
cover all governors who directly work with citizens and resolve the
problems on the ground.
It’s now time for the citizens to get actively involved in resolving the
relevant issues on the ground supporting their local authorities to do so.
I task the Government jointly with my Administration to accelerate the
necessary legislative acts, and the Parliament to provide their acceptance
in the priority order.
We should follow the civilized path, together with the whole world and to
take a course towards further democratization of the society.
We should continue our policy of strengthening the Parliaments powers.

2. At the same time, decentralization should not be assessed exclusively as a
process of creating new bodies of power at the local level, to transfer
certain powers there.
Decentralization first of all is a qualitative change of the state management
system, change of the resolution system for the local-scale level.
Simultaneously, decentralization should not lead to the weakening of the
vertical of power, decreasing of the executive discipline and order. We can’t
let that happen. Governors on the ground, the Government should keep
that under special control.