Kazakhstan plans to introduce direct elections for town, village mayors

Nazarbayev said more than 2,500 local and regional posts, such as village and town mayors, would be elected. That means more than 90 percent of mayors at all levels will be elected, he said.
This is one of a raft of reforms announced by Nazarbayev in his annual state of the nation address, which focused on cataloging the country's achievements during Nazarbayev's tenure.
Nazarbayev said Kazakhstan has attracted 160 billion U.S. dollars in foreign investment, much of which has gone to developing the oil-rich country's energy and mineral resources, Xinhua reports.
However, the president said his country would not rush into reforms before the economic conditions were right, adding every step of political reform is closely tied to the level of economic development.
Kazakhstan would seek to pursue further democratization and strengthen the power of the parliament, the president added.
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