List of leaders of Kazakhstan

Template:Short description Template:Sidebar The president of Kazakhstan is the head of state elected by popular vote to serve a five-year-term.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The president appoints the prime minister of Kazakhstan (head of government) and first deputy prime minister.<ref name="Pannier">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Chivers">Template:Cite news</ref>

Leaders of Kazakhstan (1917–1990)

Alash Autonomy (1917–1920)

Template:Abbr	Chairman Template:Small		Term of office			Political party	Ref
	Portrait	Name	Took office	Left office	Time in office
1		Alikhan Bukeikhanov Template:Small	13 December 1917	5 March 1920	Template:Age in years and days	Alash	—

Kirghiz Krai (1919–1920)

Template:Abbr	Chairman Template:Small		Term of office			Political party	Ref
	Portrait	Name	Took office	Left office	Time in office
Chairman of the Revolutionary Committee
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white"| 1		Stanisław Pestkowski Template:Small	10 July 1919	26 August 2020	Template:Age in years and days	style="background:Template:Party color;"|Communist (Bolsheviks)	—
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white"| —		Sakypkerey Argynshiev (Acting) Template:Small	August 1920	26 August 2020	<1 month	style="background:Template:Party color;"|Communist (Bolsheviks)	—

Kirghiz Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic (1920–1925)

Template:Abbr	Chairman Template:Small		Term of office			Political party	Ref
	Portrait	Name	Took office	Left office	Time in office
Chairman of the Revolutionary Committee
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white"| 1		Stanisław Pestkowski Template:Small	26 August 1920	15 September 1920	Template:Age in years and days	style="background:Template:Party color;"|Communist (Bolsheviks)	—
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white"| —		Sakypkerey Argynshiev (Acting) Template:Small	26 August 1920	September 1920	<1 month	style="background:Template:Party color;"|Communist (Bolsheviks)	—
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white"| 2		Viktor Radus-Zenkovich Template:Small	15 September 1920	13 October 1920	Template:Age in years and days	style="background:Template:Party color;"|Communist (Bolsheviks)	—
Chairman of the Central Executive Committee
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white"| 3		Seitkali Mendeshev Template:Small	13 October 1920	19 April 1925	Template:Age in years and days	style="background:Template:Party color;"|Communist (Bolsheviks)	—
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white"| 3		Zhalau Mynbayev Template:Small	19 April 1925	15 July 1925	Template:Age in years and days	style="background:Template:Party color;"|Communist (Bolsheviks)	—

Kazakh Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (1925–1936)

Template:Abbr	Chairman Template:Small		Term of office			Political party	Ref
	Portrait	Name	Took office	Left office	Time in office
Chairman of the Central Executive Committee
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white"| 1		Zhalau Mynbayev Template:Small	15 July 1925	3 April 1927	Template:Age in years and days	style="background:Template:Party color;"|Communist (Bolsheviks)	—
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white"| 2		Eltai Yernazarov Template:Small	3 April 1927	9 January 1935	Template:Age in years and days	style="background:Template:Party color;"|Communist (Bolsheviks)	—
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white"| 3		Uzakbai Kulymbetov Template:Small	9 January 1935	5 December 1936	Template:Age in years and days	style="background:Template:Party color;"|Communist (Bolsheviks)	—

Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic (1936–1991)

First Secretary of the Communist Party

Template:Abbr	Chairman Template:Small		Term of office			Political party	Ref
	Portrait	Name	Took office	Left office	Time in office
rowspan=2 style="background:Template:Party color; color:white"| 1		Levon Mirzoyan Template:Small	23 April 1937	23 May 1938	Template:Age in years and days	style="background:Template:Party color;"|Communist (Bolsheviks)	—
Oversaw early famine relief and collectivization; arrested in 1938 during Great Purge and executed in February 1939.
rowspan=2 style="background:Template:Party color; color:white"| 2		Nikolay Skvortsov Template:Small	23 May 1938	23 July 1945	Template:Age in years and days	style="background:Template:Party color;"|Communist (Bolsheviks)	—
Guided the republic through wartime mobilization relocating factories during World War II and post‑war reconstruction.
rowspan=2 style="background:Template:Party color; color:white"| 3		Gennady Borkov Template:Small	23 July 1945	22 June 1946	Template:Age in years and days	style="background:Template:Party color;"|Communist (Bolsheviks)	—
Served briefly in the immediate post‑war period during demobilization; little else is documented about his short tenure.
rowspan=2 style="background:Template:Party color; color:white"| 4		Zhumabay Shayakhmetov Template:Small	22 June 1946	6 February 1954	Template:Age in years and days	style="background:Template:Party color;"|Communist (Bolsheviks)	—
First ethnic Kazakh in the post; removed in February 1954 under Khrushchev's reorganizations amid allegations of corruption.
rowspan=2 style="background:Template:Party color; color:white"| 5		Panteleimon Ponomarenko Template:Small	6 February 1954	7 May 1955	Template:Age in years and days	style="background:Template:Party color;"|Communist	—
Transferred from Byelorussian SSR as a transitional figure after Stalin's death; served just over a year before being reassigned.
rowspan=2 style="background:Template:Party color; color:white"| 6		Leonid Brezhnev Template:Small	8 May 1955	6 March 1956	Template:Age in years and days	style="background:Template:Party color;"|Communist	—
Promoted from Second Secretary to lead Virgin Lands campaign and Baikonur development; recalled to Moscow in March 1956 after disappointing harvests.
rowspan=2 style="background:Template:Party color; color:white"| 7		Ivan Yakovlev Template:Small	6 March 1956	26 December 1957	Template:Age in years and days	style="background:Template:Party color;"|Communist	—
Elevated from Second to First Secretary during the Khrushchev Thaw; oversaw de‑Stalinization measures and defense‑industry conversion.
rowspan=2 style="background:Template:Party color; color:white"| 8		Nikolai Belyaev Template:Small	26 December 1957	19 January 1960	Template:Age in years and days	style="background:Template:Party color;"|Communist	—
Noted for advancing agricultural and economic policies; dismissed in January 1960 due to a downturn in agricultural output and the harsh suppression of the 1959 Temirtau riots.
rowspan=2 style="background:Template:Party color; color:white"| 9		Dinmukhamed Kunaev Template:Small	19 January 1960	26 December 1962	Template:Age in years and days	style="background:Template:Party color;"|Communist	—
—
rowspan=2 style="background:Template:Party color; color:white"| 10		Ismail Yusupov Template:Small	26 December 1962	7 December 1964	Template:Age in years and days	style="background:Template:Party color;"|Communist	—
Succeeded Kunaev amid Khrushchev's regional reshuffling; initiated the transfer of several South Kazakhstan regions to the Uzbek SSR and was later dismissed at Brezhnev's suggestion.
rowspan=2 style="background:Template:Party color; color:white"| 11		Dinmukhamed Kunaev Template:Small	7 December 1964	16 December 1986	Template:Age in years and days	style="background:Template:Party color;"|Communist	—
After a brief hiatus (replaced in 1962), he returned to lead for over 22 years overseeing massive industrialization and former Virgin Lands efforts and was removed in December 1986 by Gorbachev, causing the Jeltoqsan protests.
rowspan=2 style="background:Template:Party color; color:white"| 12		Gennady Kolbin Template:Small	16 December 1986	22 June 1989	Template:Age in years and days	style="background:Template:Party color;"|Communist	—
Appointed by Gorbachev as an outsider with no prior work in Kazakhstan; his imposition sparked the Jeltoqsan protests.
rowspan=2 style="background:Template:Party color; color:white"| 13		Nursultan Nazarbayev Template:Small	22 June 1989	28 August 1991	Template:Age in years and days	style="background:Template:Party color;"|Communist	—
Last First Secretary; oversaw the exclusion of Article 6 (ending one‑party monopoly) on 24 October 1990 and the transition to the Presidency in April 1990 before office was abolished in September 1991.

Head of state

Template:Abbr	Portrait	Name Template:Small	Term of office			Political party
			Took office	Left office	Time in office
Chairman of the Central Executive Committee
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" |1		Template:Ill (1891–1938)	5 December 1936	22 June 1937	Template:Ayd	QKP
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" |—		Ismail Salvafeka Template:Small	June 1937	July 1937	~1 month	QKP
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" |2		Alibey Dzhangildin (1884–1953)	July 1937	28 October 1937	~3 months	QKP
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" |3		Nurbapa Umirzakov (1907–1947)	28 October 1937	15 July 1938	Template:Ayd	QKP
Chairmen of the Supreme Soviet
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" |4		Template:Ill (1907–1984)	15 July 1938	17 July 1938	Template:Ayd	QKP
Chairmen of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" |5		Template:Ill (1898–1959)	17 July 1938	January 1947	~6 months	QKP
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" |—		Template:Ill Template:Small	January 1947	20 March 1947	~2 months	QKP
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" |6		Template:Ill (1909–1982)	20 March 1947	23 January 1954	Template:Ayd	QKP
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" |7		Nurtas Undasynov (1904–1989)	23 January 1954	19 April 1955	Template:Ayd	QKP
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" |8		Zhumabek Tashenev (1915–1986)	19 April 1955	20 January 1960	Template:Ayd	QKP
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" |9		Fazyl Karibzhanov (1912–1960)	20 January 1960	25 August 1960	Template:Ayd	QKP
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" |—		Kapitalina Krykova Template:Small	25 August 1960	3 January 1961	Template:Ayd	QKP
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" |10		Isagali Sharipov (1906–1976)	3 January 1961	5 April 1965	Template:Ayd	QKP
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" |11		Sabir Niyazbekov (1912–1989)	5 April 1965	20 December 1978	Template:Ayd	QKP
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" |12		Isatay Abdukarimov (1924–2001)	20 December 1978	14 December 1979	Template:Ayd	QKP
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" |13		Sattar Imashev (1926–1984)	14 December 1979	22 February 1984	Template:Ayd	QKP
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" |14		Andrey Plotnikov (1912–1991)	22 February 1984	22 March 1984	Template:Ayd	QKP
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" |15		Bayken Ashimov (1917–2010)	22 March 1984	27 September 1985	Template:Ayd	QKP
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" |16		Salamat Mukashev (1927–2004)	27 September 1985	9 February 1988	Template:Ayd	QKP
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" |17		Zakash Kamalidenov (1939–2017)	9 February 1988	December 1988	~10 months	QKP
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" |18		Vera Sidorova (1934–2025)	December 1988	10 March 1989	~3 months	QKP
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" |19		Template:Ill (1929–2012)	10 March 1989	22 February 1990	Template:Ayd	QKP
Chairmen of the Supreme Soviet
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" |20	Error creating thumbnail:	Nursultan Nazarbayev (born 1940)	22 February 1990	24 April 1990	Template:Ayd	QKP

Presidents of the Republic of Kazakhstan (1990–present)

Template:Main article Political partiesTemplate:Legend

Symbols

Template:Note label Constitutional referendum

Template:Abbr	Portrait	Name Template:Small	Elected	Term of office			Political party
				Took office	Left office	Time in office
style="background: linear-gradient(Template:Party color 10.7%, Template:Party color 10.7%); color:white; height:33px" |	File:Nazarbayev, October 2015.jpg	Nursultan Nazarbayev Template:Small	1990 1991 1999 2005 2011 2015	24 April 1990	20 March 2019	Template:Ayd	QKP (1990–1991) Independent (1991–1999) Otan/Nur Otan (1999–2019)
style="background:Template:Party color; border-style: none; color:white; height:33px" |20
style="background:Template:Party color; border-style: none none solid none; color:white; height:33px" |
style="background:Template:Party color; border-style: none; color:white; height:33px" |	File:President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in Astana 01 (cropped)(b).jpg	Kassym-Jomart Tokayev Template:Small	—	20 March 2019	12 June 2019	84 days	Nur Otan (2019–2022) Amanat (March–April 2022) Independent (since 2022)
style="background: linear-gradient(Template:Party color 10%, Template:Party color 14%); border-style: none; color:white; height:33px" |21			2019 2022	12 June 2019	Incumbent	Template:Ayd
style="background:Template:Party color; border-style: none none solid none; height:33px" |

Note

Until 16 December 1991 the head of state was called President of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic.

Timeline

<timeline> ImageSize = width:1050 height:auto barincrement:13 PlotArea = top:10 bottom:100 right:150 left:20 AlignBars = late

Colors =

id:Independent value:gray(0.8)              legend:Independent
id:Alash       value:rgb(0.961,0.945,0.137) legend:Alash
id:Soviet      value:rgb(0.8,0,0)           legend:Communist_Party_of_the_Soviet_Union
id:Communist   value:rgb(1,0,0)             legend:Communist_Party_of_Kazakhstan
id:Nur-Otan    value:rgb(0.11,0.663,0.788)  legend:Otan_→_Nur_Otan
id:Amanat      value:rgb(0.227,0.706,0.678) legend:Amanat
id:liteline    value:gray(0.8)
id:line        value:rgb(0.3,0.3,0.3)
id:bg          value:white

DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1917 till:31/12/{{#expr:{{#time:Y}}+1}} TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:6 start:1917 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:1917

Legend = columns:1 left:110 top:57 columnwidth:220

Define $now = {{#time:d/m/Y|-3 hours}}

TextData =

 pos:(20,57) textcolor:black fontsize:s
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BarData =

bar:Bukeikhanov
bar:Pestkowski
bar:Radus-Zenkovich
bar:Zenkovich
bar:Aytiyev
bar:Mendeshev
bar:Mynbaev
bar:Ernazarov
bar:Kulumbetov
bar:Mirzoyan
bar:Skvortsov
bar:Borkov
bar:Shayakhmentov
bar:Ponomarenko
bar:Brezhnev
bar:Yakovlev
bar:Belyaev
bar:Kunaev
bar:Yusupov 
bar:Kolbin
bar:Nazarbayev
bar:Tokayev

PlotData=

 width:5 align:left fontsize:s shift:(5,-4) anchor:till

bar:Bukeikhanov
 from: 13/12/1917 till: 05/03/1920 color:Alash       text:"Alikhan Bukeikhanov"
bar:Pestkowski
 from: 30/04/1919 till: 01/08/1920 color:Soviet      text:"Stanisław Pestkowski"
bar:Radus-Zenkovich
 from: 01/08/1920 till: 26/08/1920 color:Soviet      text:"Sakhiygirey Radus-Zenkovich"
bar:Zenkovich
 from: 26/08/1920 till: 01/10/1920 color:Soviet      text:"Viktor Radus Zenkovich"
bar:Aytiyev
 from: 01/10/1920 till: 12/10/1920 color:Soviet      text:"Abdrakhman Aytiyev"
bar:Mendeshev
 from: 12/10/1920 till: 19/04/1925 color:Soviet      text:"Seytgali Mendeshev"
bar:Mynbaev
 from: 19/04/1925 till: 15/06/1925 color:Soviet
 from: 15/06/1925 till: 01/01/1927 color:Soviet      text:"Jalau Mynbaev"
bar:Ernazarov
 from: 01/01/1927 till: 11/10/1933 color:Soviet      text:"Eltay Ernazarov"
bar:Kulumbetov
 from: 11/10/1933 till: 05/12/1936 color:Soviet      text:"Uzakbay Kulumbetov"
bar:Mirzoyan
 from: 05/12/1936 till: 15/05/1938 color:Communist   text:"Levon Mirzoyan"
bar:Skvortsov
 from: 15/05/1938 till: 13/07/1945 color:Communist   text:"Nikolay Skvortsov"
bar:Borkov
 from: 13/07/1945 till: 22/07/1946 color:Communist   text:"Gennady Borkov"
bar:Shayakhmentov
 from: 22/07/1946 till: 06/02/1954 color:Communist   text:"Zhumabay Shayakhmetov"
bar:Ponomarenko
 from: 06/02/1954 till: 07/05/1955 color:Communist   text:"Panteleimon Ponomarenko"
bar:Brezhnev
 from: 07/05/1955 till: 06/03/1956 color:Communist   text:"Leonid Brezhnev"
bar:Yakovlev
 from: 06/03/1956 till: 26/12/1957 color:Communist   text:"Ivan Yakovlev"
bar:Belyaev
 from: 26/12/1957 till: 19/01/1960 color:Communist   text:"Nikolay Beyaev"
bar:Kunaev
 from: 19/01/1960 till: 26/12/1962 color:Communist
 from: 07/12/1964 till: 16/12/1986 color:Communist   text:"Dinmukhamed Kunaev"
bar:Yusupov 
 from: 26/12/1962 till: 07/12/1964 color:Communist   text:"Ismail Yusupov"
bar:Kolbin
 from: 16/12/1986 till: 22/06/1989 color:Communist   text:"Gennady Kolbin"
bar:Nazarbayev
 from: 22/06/1989 till: 07/09/1991 color:Communist
 from: 07/09/1991 till: 12/02/1999 color:Independent
 from: 12/02/1999 till: 20/03/2019 color:Nur-Otan    text:"Nursultan Nazarbayev"
bar:Tokayev
 from: 20/03/2019 till: 01/03/2022 color:Nur-Otan
 from: 01/03/2022 till: 26/04/2022 color:Amanat
 from: 26/04/2022 till: $now       color:Independent text:"Kassym-Jomart Tokayev"

</timeline>

See also

• Politics of Kazakhstan
• President of Kazakhstan
• Prime Minister of Kazakhstan
• Vice President of Kazakhstan

External links

• Kazakhstan President Official Site
• Kazakhstan President Nazarbayev Biography