Kazakhstan will hold presidential elections earlier than scheduled, the country's long-serving president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, said.
The Kazakh Constitutional Council declared on Monday unlawful a proposed referendum bypassing presidential polls due in 2012 and extending Nazarbayev's presidential term to 2020. The council said the holding of the referendum would violate the Kazakh constitution.
"I propose viewing this situation as a historic democratic lesson of obeying the constitution," Nazarbayev said in his address to the people.
In line with Kazakh laws, the president has the right to veto a Constitutional Council's decision.
"Guided by the country's highest interests, I decided not to hold the referendum. I propose holding early presidential elections," said Nazarbayev, 70, who has been in power since the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union.
He did not specify the date of the proposed vote.
Earlier in the month, the Kazakh parliament voted unanimously in favor of holding the referendum to extend Nazarbayev's time in office.
Nazarbayev vetoed parliament's original call for the referendum, but the most recent vote overrode his objections.
The European Union condemned plans for the referendum, saying it would go against Kazakhstan's commitment to democracy.
In June, the title of "Leader of the Nation" was bestowed upon Nazarbayev by his country's lawmakers. The title gives him a wide range of privileges after the expiry of his presidential term.
The referendum on extending Nazarbayev's presidential term would have been the second such case. In 1995, his term, due to expire that year, was extended until December 2000.
ASTANA, January 31 (RIA Novosti)
