Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev on Friday said he was ready to work for as long as required as his country is expected to hold a referendum on whether to extend his term until 2020.
"I am ready to work for as long as my health allows me. People's trust means a lot to me," he said during an annual address to the nation.
"I understood the signal of the people -- do not leave your post, continue work. We should do our best to serve our people," he said.
"All of this we have created together, from scratch, with me at the helm," said Nazarbayev.
Nazarbayev addressed the nation as Kazakhstan's parliament earlier this month voted to hold a referendum on prolonging his rule to 2020.
Nazarbayev had then been expected to sign the bill. But he sent it instead for review to the Constitutional Council, a step seen as a token gesture and drawing an official distance between him and the efforts to extend his rule.
"Whatever decision the Constitutional Council takes I promise that I will work if my health allows me," he said in the address.
The 70-year-old leader has ruled energy-rich Kazakhstan since it became independent from the Soviet Union. If still in power by 2020, he will have ruled for three decades.
The West has repeatedly urged the ex-Soviet Kazakhstan to commit to democracy, and the United States this week renewed concerns over Nazarbayev's bid to extend his term when US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with her Kazakh colleague.
In an attempt to dampen fresh concerns from the West, Nazarbayev said his country would fulfil its obligations towards its foreign partners.
"We will keep all our commitments to the West," he said.
Earlier this month, deputies in the Kazakh parliament's upper and lower houses unanimously backed constitutional changes to allow the public to decide in a referendum whether to prolong the strongman leader's rule until 2020 without holding elections.
The result of the referendum is virtually a foregone conclusion because an astonishing five million Kazakhs -- more than half of the electorate -- have signed a petition backing the reform.
A "yes" vote would allow Nazarbayev to skip planned presidential elections in 2012 and 2017.
Supporters say it will guarantee the stability of Central Asia's richest state for the next decade but the opposition and the West have raised concerns that it will create an authoritarian and unaccountable regime.
Source: AFP Global Edition
