ASTANA, August 24 (RIA Novosti) - Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said Wednesday that he would run for a third seven-year term after the Kazakh Constitutional Council set elections for Sunday, December 4. According to the Kazakh constitution, only parliament's lower house, the Majilis, has the right to decide when to hold presidential elections. Leader of the opposition movement "For a Just Kazakhstan" Zharmakhan Tuyakbai, also the former prosecutor general and Majilis speaker, said he would also run for the presidency.
Nazarbayev has been ruling Kazakhstan since February 1990 when he became first secretary of the Kazakh Communist Party's Central Committee.
In December 1991, he was elected Kazakh president. His presidential term was prolonged for five years in 1995. Early elections were held in Kazakhstan in January 1999. Nazarbayev won more than 80% of the vote and was elected for another seven-year term.
