Government aims for continuity but critics bemoan erosion of democracy, trust
A billboard in Almaty showing figure skater Mikhail Shaidorov, who won gold in the recent winter Olympic Games, endorsing the government’s planned constitutional changes. (Photo by Paul Bartlett)
PAUL BARTLETT and NAUBET BISENOV
ALMATY/AKTOBE, Kazakhstan — Kazakhs can be forgiven for feeling a sense of deja vu as they head to the polls on Sunday to vote on radical changes to the constitution that will give the president more power, just four years after they waved through a raft of amendments.