Kazakh PM Reappointed After Election

Akhmetov, who has held the post since June 2003, was nominated by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev, who won a new, seven-year mandate on 4 December, in a poll judged flawed by foreign monitors. In Kazakhstan's presidential system, power is concentrated in the hands of the president.

Akhmetov's cabinet will need the approval of the president.

Nazarbaev told a joint session of the upper and lower houses on 18 January that the Akhmetov government had made no serious mistakes and should be allowed to continue its work.

The Kazakh parliament has been devoid of any opposition members since elections in 2004, a poll that was again judged to be flawed, and rarely makes significant changes to government legislation.

(Reuters, AP, AFP)