Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev attends a meeting with Iran's Supreme National Security Council Secretary and chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili at his office in Almaty February 25, 2013. REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov
ASTANA (Reuters) - Kazakhstan's veteran leader, widely expected to seek re-election in a snap poll next month, hinted on Friday he might yet decide to step down but keep the Central Asian nation under his control, citing Singapore's "founding father" as an example.
President Nursultan Nazarbayev, 74, has run Kazakhstan, rich in oil and gas reserves, since 1989 when he headed the local Communist Party within the Soviet Union. His current five-year term formally ends only in late 2016, but he has called an early election for April 26.
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