Leader of the Tabigat (Nature) environmental union Mels Eleusizov, the only self-nominated presidential candidate in Kazakhstan, has applied for a place on the Guinness Book of Records.
He plans to hold a nation-wide tree planting campaign on March 20, ITAR-TASS reported.
Eleusizov said that Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev should be the first to plant a tree. "I have written a letter to the president, asking him to support the campaign and to be the first to plant a tree," the candidate told ITAR-TASS on Friday.
It is possible to plant many trees within one day, he said. "A serviceman in Pakistan planted 30,000 trees in 36 hours, and his record was added to the Guinness Book of Records," he said.
Eleusizov does not plan to assign any funds for his campaign. He hopes that every citizen will buy two or three trees for planting.
"It would be better to plant coniferous trees but they are expensive," he said, admitting that he would be planting "the cheapest trees" - poplars and elms. Even seedlings planted in pots will count, because frosts persists in central and northern areas of Kazakhstan.
The election campaign is gaining momentum. Nazarbayev said he would not hold any special canvassing events, but his rivals preferred untraditional methods to win the electorate.
Communist Party candidate Zhambyl Ahmetbekov gave a concert on the International Women's Day, March 8. He played a guitar and sang his favorite songs to women of Kazakhstan.
Leader of the Party of Patriots Gani Kasymov visited an Almaty polyclinic and promised to increase doctors' salaries and to provide patients with free drugs in the case of his victory in the elections. He also attended a festival of documentary movies.
All the candidates but Nazarbayev have complained about a shortage of canvassing funds, which may prevent them from touring the entire country.
The government assigned every candidate with 6.29 million tenge (about $42,500) to fund canvassing events and to cover transport expenditures. The candidates are permitted to pay for one presentation of their election platforms on television and the radio and for publishing two articles in printed editions.
They are also permitted to form election funds, which must not exceed 432 million tenge (about $3 million).
Kazakh presidential candidates posted their political platforms in the official media on March 6.
The election platform of incumbent President Nursultan Nazarbayev, a nominee of the Nur Otan party, is based on the national development program for the period until 2020 and guidelines of his address to the nation. The platform prioritizes sustainable economic growth, accelerated industrial and innovative development and larger support to small and medium business.
The platform, "Build the Future Together," pledges to reduce the unemployment rate to 5% and the poverty rate to 6%, to increase the average life span to 72 years, and to halve the mother and infant mortality rates. Nazarbayev promised to build 350 hospitals and polyclinics and 400 schools within five years and to make people shareholders of the leading national companies.
Meanwhile, the election slogan of Ahmetbekov is "The Authorities Have the Power, We Have the Truth." His main election promise is that mineral resources will be used for people's benefit. The candidate suggests nationalization of electric power, oil and mining industries and air and railroad transport. He said he would stop exports of cotton, wool, raw leather and timber, introduce quotas on exports of ferrous and non-ferrous metals and enlarge the processing industries.
State control over prices and promotion of domestic producers are the other guidelines of his election program.
Kasymov pledged modernization of the authorities and a switch to the presidential-and-parliamentary form of government. He said the parliament would appoint and dismiss the government, approve candidates for the interior and defense ministers, the security service chiefs, ambassadors and judges of the Supreme Court and district courts. In addition, the Senate chairman will also be the vice-president. All the political parties registered in the country will be represented in the national parliament, some through election and some by presidential quotas, Kasymov said.
He also suggested optimizing the administrative and territorial structure of the country with the elimination of all the regional structures. The government via ministries will interact with district administrations, whose leaders will be elected by people and approved by the president. Kasymov promised to revive collective farms and housing cooperatives and to restore the pension age for women at 55 years.
Eleusizov said that Russia must be the priority of Kazakhstan's foreign policy. "We must support [Russia's] interests while it [Russia] must also support our sovereignty," he said in the election platform, "New Course, New Way." The candidate opposed the accelerated accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO). "It would be premature to seek the entry into the WTO without sufficient domestic production. We will be doomed to be a raw material appendix of the developed world in that case," he said.
Eleusizov also opposed the resettlement of villagers to towns. Instead, he said that living standards in the countryside and in towns must be leveled and young people must be encouraged to stay in their home villages with governmental support to farmers. The candidate said he would legalize the priority of environmental matters.
The canvassing in Kazakhstan will last until April 1. The presidential election is due on April 3.
