Citations of the party congress attendees added (the first version was posted at 08:32)
Kazakhstan, Astana, Feb.11 / Trend A. Maratov /
Kazakhstan's ruling People's Democratic Party Nur Otan nominated President Nursultan Nazarbayev as its candidate for the April snap presidential elections in its congress today.
"I propose to nominate Nazarbayev as a candidate for the presidential elections. I speak for all of our party," Erlan Sydykov, the rector of Semipalatinsk State University, said in his speech.
His proposal was supported by Astana's akim Imangali Tasmagambetov, MP Kanysh Sultanov, and Chairman of the Kazakhsmys Board of Directors Vladimir Kim.
Chairman of the Lithuanian People's Union Kazimira Prunskiene also thanked Nazarbayev for supporting the Baltic countries in the early 1990's.
"For 20 years, Kazakhstan has achieved excellent results," Prunskiene said. "The world needs water and energy resources, but most of all it needs stability, and that is what today exists in Kazakhstan. The Kazakh people have the chance to preserve their welfare, making the right choice," she added.
On behalf of her party, Prunskiene presented a souvenir of pure amber to Nazarbayev.
Chairman of the International Confederation of Asian Political Parties Jose de Venecia (Philippines) awarded Nazarbayev the highest order for his outstanding achievements and service to humanity.
According to him, the president should be awarded the Nobel Prize for refusing nuclear weapons.
"Nazarbayev has made Kazakhstan a leader in the global campaign on reducing the number of nuclear weapons around the world. And I hope that the jury awarding the Nobel Peace Prize will pay attention to the uniqueness and practical activities of Kazakhstan in this direction," he said.
Jose de Venecia also proposed to include Kazakhstan in the "Great Twenty" (G20) to represent Asia.
The regular congress of the party started its work on Friday at the Palace of Independence in Astana. The party was founded in 1999 and today consists of over 800,000 people. Since its creation, the party has held a majority in parliament.