Kazakhstan Makes Former Deputy PM New Prime Minister

ASTANA, Kazakhstan, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News -9th Sept,2016) : Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev promoted a former deputy premier Friday to succeed longtime ally prime minister Karim Massimov, who he has transferred to the role of security chief.

Massimov, who had led the cabinet since 2014 was dismissed and made the Central Asian country's internal security chief Thursday, on the back of a summer that saw a spike in homegrown radical violence.

The appointment of Bykytzhan Sagintayev as premier temporarily ends speculation that Dariga Nazarbayeva -- Nazarbayev's 53-year-old daughter -- might take up higher office.

Some analysts suggested Dariga could succeed her 76-year-old father as president after she was made deputy premier in 2015, although Nazarbayev has given no indication of a successor.

Nazarbayev, who came to power before independence in 1991, said Friday that the cabinet as a whole would not undergo major changes as it is "carrying out its work during a difficult period." A teacher and economist by training, Sagintayev was governor of the northern region of Pavlodar and deputy chairman of Nazarbayev's Nur Otan party before becoming trade and development minister in 2012.