In January, the parliament of Kazakhstan approved holding a nationwide referendum to decide whether President Nursultan Nazarbayev's term in office should be extended for another decade. The referendum idea was started by a people’s “initiative group,” which submitted a list of a reported 5 million-plus voter’ signatures in favor of the move.  On January 31, Kazakhstan's Constitutional Council rejected the referendum, citing it was unconstitutional. In response, early presidential elections were called by Nazarbayev himself for April 3^rd, 2011. Anthony C. Bowyer, Program Manager for the Caucasus and Central Asia, comments:  

“This is a still essentially a referendum by another name. Typically, candidates and political parties are given years to prepare for national elections, let alone acquire the necessary signatures to get on the ballot for a presidential election, raise funds and organize their campaigns. The opposition in Kazakhstan, which is known to be weak and disjointed, is being given all of two months. Had the election taken plan as originally scheduled in 2012, the opposition might have at least coalesced around a single challenger, though not necessarily unseated the president. However, the present timeframe assures that any alternative candidates will be symbolic only, and most legitimate opposition can be expected to boycott the election under such terms. Of course, because of the half million signatures of voters supposedly gathered, the president and his ruling Nur-Otan party can justify the holding of an early election to give the people “what they have asked for,” without violating the constitution or the sanctity of the electoral process. In truth, this move still required a constitutional amendment (to allow the president to set the early election date) and deals a body blow to the notion of electoral democracy in Kazakhstan; shocking only insofar as the country’s seat as OSCE Chair-in-Office in 2010 is barely cold.”