Anti-nuclear movement leader may run for President in Kazakhstan

The leader of Attan-Kazakhstan anti-nuclear movement and march of peace and one of the organisers of the famous Nevada - Semipalatinsk movement of 1989 Amantai-kazhy Assylbek has announced his plans to take part in the early presidential race this year in Kazakhstan. He spoke about it in a phone interview to Tengrinews.

“I will be taking part in the presidential elections for the fourth time with my program, the program of our anti-nuclear march Attan Kazakhstan that advocated for the closure of the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site,” he said.

70-year-old Amantai-kazhy Assylbek has ran for president several times. He first put forward his candidacy in 1998, but was disqualified before he even got registered as a presidential candidates for committing an administrative breach - he participated in an unsanctioned demonstration.

In 2005, he actually ran for president, but failed to win.

Later, in 2011, he sought to take part in the presidential race again. However, he did not turn up for the Kazakh language proficiency exam, which is mandatory for all presidential candidates in Kazakhstan. The Central Election Commission rescheduled his exam, but he neither turned up nor answered phone calls. He later explained that he was absent for family reasons - a grandmother of his daughter-in-law died.

Back in 2011, Amantai-kazhy Assylbek vowed that he would fight against corruption, mafia and all evil in the world. He also backed introduction of polygyny in Kazakhstan.

Reporting by Assel Satayeva, writing by Assel Satubaldina, editing by Tatyana Kuzmina