First President’s Day is a tribute to National Leader
The text of the law was very short: "Article 1. To make the following addition to the Law on the Holidays in the Republic of Kazakhstan as of December 13, 2001: to add the ninth paragraph to the article 3 with in the following wording: "The Day of the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan - December 1". Article 2. This Law comes into effect from the date of its signing". The bill was introduced by the group of Parliament deputies. Senator Anatoly Bashmakov who was in that group told during that historical meeting of the Senate: "This very day when the First President was elected, and the institute of presidency of the Republic of Kazakhstan was established, which had an indisputable impact on the entire course and development of our statehood. Let's pay tribute to it", - Deputy of the Senate Anatoly Bashmakov said in the Senate meeting.
December 1 is one of the most important dates in the contemporary history of Kazakhstan. On this day in 1991 for the first time the President of the Kazakh SSR - Nursultan Abishevich Nazarbayev was elected in national elections having received 98,7 percent of votes. Earlier Nursultan Nazarbayev was elected to this post by the Supreme Council of the Kazakh SSR on April 24, 1990. The first national presidential elections became a historical act of all-Kazakhstan unity. On December 1, 1991 the people of Kazakhstan made a crucial choice for the presidential government.
The achievements of the country within 25 years of sovereignty demonstrate convincingly that the people of Kazakhstan had made the right choice - President N. Nazarbayev completely executed the oath, having given all efforts to construction of the new, strong and independent Kazakhstan.
The day of the First President is celebrated in recognition of the outstanding merits of Nursultan Nazarbayev before the people of Kazakhstan. In the very first days after the election N. Nazarbayev signed the law on renaming of the Kazakh SSR into the Republic of Kazakhstan. And in two weeks after elections - on December 16, 1991, - the Supreme Council of the republic declared state independence of Kazakhstan which meant declaration of Kazakhstan as a sovereign state. The priority of the first President of the nation N. Nazarbayev has always been peace and consent in the Kazakhstan society. The Kazakhstan model of national unity and interethnic tolerance became a sample for many other countries today.
In the article "The First Day of the New Era in Kazakhstan" published in "Kazakhstanskaya Pravda" on December 1, 2012 Nulrsultan Nazarbayev wrote: "The memories of those difficult events which step by step brought closer our people to the long-awaited freedom are still alive in my mind. And in the chronology of our way to Independence there are three key historical milestones passed by the people of Kazakhstan during that fatal period. The first is signing of the Decree on closing of Semipalatinsk Testing Site which ensured not only national, but also global security. The second milestone is the general election of the President of Kazakhstan which took place on December 1, 1991. The historical importance and patriotic value of this event is obvious and indisputable. This day the people of Kazakhstan for the first time exercised their sovereign right to be the real source of power". The third milestone is adoption of the Constitutional Law of State Independence of the Republic of Kazakhstan". It became the main historical, unforgettable event of the people of Kazakhstan which fulfilled the dream of our ancestors.
The common work of all Kazakhstan citizens was necessary to create the new country which had not existed on the world map before. Celebrating the Day of the First President every year Kazakhstan citizens appreciate the hard way which the country has passed, and pay a tribute of respect to the Leader of the nation.