Kazakh opposition

The Kazakh opposition consists of groups and individuals in Kazakhstan who have sought to challenge past and present governmental authorities. From 1986 to 1991 the opposition stood against the leaders of Soviet Kazakhstan. Since 1995, after the adoption of a new constitution and the transition from a parliamentary form of government to a presidential one, they have opposed the former and current president of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev and Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, respectively. Supporters of the movement tend to call for a parliamentary democracy based on a Western model, with freedom of speech alongside political and religious pluralism.

The Kazakh democracy movement is a series of political movements in Kazakhstan that are supported by opposition groups and civil activists which are seeking for reforms in Kazakhstan's current political system, formed from 1991 after the country gained its independence from the Soviet Union and became a sovereign state by advocating for a democratic, multi-party, parliamentary system. The movement dates back to 1986, when a group of Kazakh youth demonstrated against Gennady Kolbin's appointment as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan due to his ethnicity which resulted in protests throughout the Kazakh SSR in an event known as Jeltoqsan and was eventually followed by the calls for the country's independence amid the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Nursultan Nazarbayev would eventually become the President of Kazakhstan and serve for three decades under authoritarian regime. Over the recent years, calls for democratic reforms have grown following the decrease in standard of living which saw rise of consistent protests in Kazakhstan that eventually resulted in Nazarbayev's resignation as well as attempted reforms by the authorities which are seen as flawed and lacking among the general public.