Kazakh leader’s chief of staff becomes lower house speaker

ALMATY (Reuters) – Kazakhstan’s lower house speaker Nurlan Nigmatulin resigned on Tuesday and President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s former chief of staff was elected to replace him, continuing a series of top-level reshuffles after deadly unrest.

Violent protests shook the oil-rich Central Asian nation last month, culminating in the removal of former president Nursultan Nazarbayev’s remaining powers and a purge of his relatives and loyalists from senior positions.

Yerlan Koshanov, 59, nominated to replace Nigmatulin by the ruling Nur Otan party, has served as Tokayev’s chief of staff until becoming a member of parliament on Tuesday in Nigmatulin’s place.

The reshuffle further consolidates Tokayev’s grip on power in the country of 19 million which is closely allied with Russia.

(Reporting by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Kim Coghill and Raju Gopalakrishnan)