# Nazarbayev resigns; Tokayev becomes acting president

Date: 2019

## The fact

On 19 March 2019 [Nursultan Nazarbayev](/people/nursultan-nazarbayev) resigned. On 20 March Senate Chair [Kassym-Jomart Tokayev](/people/kassym-jomart-tokayev) became acting president under the constitution. He is an unresolved person candidate.

## Context

The constitution made the Senate chair acting president. There was no competitive transfer of the Nazarbayev vertical that day. This run does not mint Nazarbayev.

Resignation 19 March; acting 20 March; snap election 9 June 2019. Stored as one succession Fact. Keep Nazarbayev resigns; Tokayev becomes acting president on 2019-03-20 separate from neighbouring succession, CSTO, shoot-to-kill, 238-list, and snap-election instruments.

The president of Kazakhstan is head of state and commander-in-chief. He can declare an emergency, invite a CSTO contingent, and order lethal force. He does not write ODIHR final reports, does not sit as a UNGA teller, and a Prosecutor-General list is not converted here into a unique UCDP integer.

## Evidence and sources

Akorda / Presidency of Kazakhstan carries the official instrument or communique. Reuters records the same dated act independently.

## Significance

The path is [capacity for peaceful transfer of power](/drivers/capacity-for-peaceful-transfer-of-power): a completed managed succession, not a competitive contest.

## What is established and what is not

Established: Nazarbayev resigned on 19 March 2019 and Tokayev became acting president on 20 March.

What would change the picture: a contradictory original with a different date or name, a later repeal, a court that vacated the instrument, or a measured series that can be argued, with lag and alternatives, as a consequence of this instrument rather than of later institutions.

The date is the date of this instrument, not a licence to back-date every later harm or benefit.

He accepted. This page does not mint Nazarbayev.. A later repeal, court stay, or successor order would be a different Fact with a different date. That pair identifies Nazarbayev resigns; Tokayev becomes acting president, not a later speech about Nazarbayev resigns; Tokayev becomes acting president.

Co-authors and later implementers named in Context remain on the file. Nazarbayev resigns; Tokayev becomes acting president on 2019-03-20 is not a licence to treat every later Akorda / Presidency of Kazakhstan communique as this same act. If a later repeal, stay, or successor instrument exists, it needs its own date and its own row. This dossier refuses to average Nazarbayev resigns; Tokayev becomes acting president into a personality. The contribution described on this Person row is limited to The constitution named him. He accepted. This page does not mint Nazarbayev. That limit is the alternative to treating office-holding as authorship of every later series.

## People

- Kassym-Jomart Tokayev: https://factrail.ai/people/kassym-jomart-tokayev

## Drivers

- Capacity for Peaceful Transfer of Power: https://factrail.ai/drivers/capacity-for-peaceful-transfer-of-power

## Sources

- https://www.reuters.com/article/us-kazakhstan-president-idUSKCN1R01Y20190319
- https://www.akorda.kz/en/speeches/internal_political_affairs/in_speeches_and_addresses/statement-of-the-president-of-the-republic-of-kazakhstan-nursultan-nazarbayev

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/kz-tokayev-acting-2019